Hever Castle is one of the most popular castle to visit. This castle is one of the top castle in my…read morelist. The castle is about 1 hour drive from London. The castle is beautiful. It has several beautiful gardens, two mazes, jousting tournament, falconry, and night tale. The garden includes the Italian gardens, rose gardens, sister lawn, faith garden. The compound has one garden maze and a water maze. The compound also has 4 other attractions. At the back of castle is the owner housing. The castle has good decoration. The interior was well decorated. The castle requires tickets. But it worth the visit. The entire visit can be half day and more. Great for adults and kids.

Thatcher would be proud…read more Looking around Hever, many would be left with the impression that the owners are enormous fans of Anne Boleyn. The unfortunate wife of Henry VIII is, after all, the main focus of the exhibition and makes an appearance on much of the marketing material. But look a bit closer, and the more astute visitor may notice a different, more 'true blue', streak permeating the house. Yes, Labour voters clutch your pearls, but the proprietors appear to be worshippers of none other than Margaret Thatcher. (More so than Ms Boleyn, I would wager.) In the castle, visitors are treated to a near life-size oil painting of the union basher. And for those lucky enough to stay in the guest house for the price of £300 per night, they will find a letter written by the Iron Lady to thank the castle for her stay that has been framed and hung in one of the hallways. Among the owners personal possessions, I note Ms Boleyn has not received a similar dose of affection. Of interest is also the fact that this castle, its stunning gardens and water maze, owe their amazing condition to our friends across the Atlantic. Most stately homes in Britain are now virtually on their knees, with years of decline and underinvestment in the country reflected in their faded carpets, moth-eaten curtains and peeling paintwork. Hever, however, has avoided this fate for the good reason that it was bought by... gasp... an AMERICAN. Horrifying as it may sound, Mr Astor - who owes his astounding wealth to the rise of New York City - purchased the castle and injected nothing short of a fortune into it in order to create the attraction that we see today. Demonstrating an entrepreneurial spirit so often absent in Britain, he then had the vision to order the construction of a second moat, a lake, a walled Italian garden complete with artefacts from Pompeii, a 'wall waterfall' and to direct the gardeners to shape some bushes like a chess set. I don't think he was involved in the water maze, so loved locally, but its presence reflects Hever's enduring ambitious spirit. Perhaps it was this spirit that so inspired Margaret Thatcher to write of Hever: 'I have seen several castles and large country houses but none as perfect as Hever.'

Okay, so this doesn't rival the big museums up in London, but it is a very sweet local museum,…read moreperfect for those days when you can't think of what to do, but don't want to travel very far. I've visited a few times, and found fascinating, if small, displays, each time connecting the time period they were highlighting back to how it affected local life. Personally, I think that helps to make it real for people, children especially, as sometimes history can seem to them as some big blur of back then Opening hours vary, so do call in advance, but I think you're safe if you visit on Saturday mornings, and admission is free.

Controversy surrounded the construction and funding of The Lightbox however in its first year the…read moreorganisation has shown its worth. A futuristic aluminium outer skin and an asymetric design (which has already won a couple of architectural awards) houses an award winning arts space. There's something for everyone here, be it an exhibition on the history of Woking, art exhibitions or even live music events. A cafe provides a relaxed atmosphere and an outdoor space on the banks of the Basingstoke canal. Children can find both education and entertainment in the education rooms. Visit for free although some exhibitions may attract a small additional charge. Jazz with Sunday Brunch (2nd Sunday of month usually) is particularly good and it's free. Don't judge by the outside or the amount spent - go see for yourself!

The Lightbox is worth a visit just to admire the building (which is, in my opinion, quite…read morebeautiful, although some appear to think otherwise). It has a shell of yellow-gold aluminium scales and the front is smartly wood-panelled, while the black metal gate is somewhat Art Nouveau in style, with a pattern slightly reminiscent of wild iris. There's a small courtyard outside with seating for the café-restaurant, as well as a charming and futuristic garden featuring some metal plant sculptures and small grassy domes. There is also indoor seating for the café. There's a small shop selling souvenirs, the work of local artisans, and books and gifts relating to the exhibitions. The Lightbox has several floors with various exhibition rooms. There is a permanent exhibition about local history, which is very engaging and features several interactive displays to keep children interested. When it opened, The Lightbox secured an excellent exhibition about the animation company Aardman, but subsequent exhibitions have been slightly smaller in scale and rather less impressive, although still worth a visit. Most are free to view, but one or two have a ticket price of a few pounds. A summer pavilion providing extra exhibition space is promised for the courtyard outside, which will be paid for by the recent Art Fund Prize that the gallery deservedly received. The Lightbox is a good place to while a way an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon, but beware: don't plan to visit on a bank holiday as it is closed on Mondays.

The exterior of this museum looks like a castle. This was one of the many museums in South…read moreKensington. I thought that the experience went well and that the line moved fast. I had pre-booked tickets, which made the experience smoother. Once inside, there were so many exhibits. My favorite part is the earth escalator, however, it was closed on the day that I went. I also loved the exterior gardens in the museum. It is great for a picnic or a journaling/reading session. I'd highly recommend stopping by to check out the dinosaur bones.

We were in London during a heat wave and decided a museum day was in order, to entertain our…read morechildren away from the scorching sun. We settled on the Natural History Museum, and by the time we realized it would provide but faint relief, it was too late to go somewhere else. The Natural History Museum is one of London's spectacular free museums, a beautiful building on Exhibition Road in South Kensington. We were not, apparently, the only family who decided to visit on this hot Thursday afternoon in July, and we ended up waiting in a long, slow line, completely exposed to the sun. They might have put up some umbrellas, but I guess the weather was atypical. Once we were in, we learned that the museum is an old, historic building without much in the way of air conditioning. It was crowded and steamy in there, though still preferable to being outside. There were also a few newer exhibition halls that had proper AC. Thankfully, my three-year-old has a lifelong fascination with fans, and there were dozens of these on display, giant machines designed to ventilate large spaces. He was, in fact, more into these than he was into the dinosaurs, which scared the bejeezus out of him. The museum was definitely top tier, with tons of interesting exhibits to entertain both children and adults. We entered right into Hintze Hall, where a full blue whale skeleton hung suspended over our heads. We also admired a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite, dating back to the beginning of our solar system. The dinosaur hall was excellent, even if the animatronic T-rex made my little boy cry. We fell prey to one of the photo op stops, and I definitely paid for the downloads like a sucker--what, was I not gonna own the silly green screen pictures of my family among dinosaurs, and more importantly, looking at a camera at the same time? The mammal hall was cool, though I have to say, I missed the grand diorama displays of the mammal halls I've seen back home. We went into a newer exhibit on how to fix our broken planet, mostly for the air conditioning. My kids were less into the conservation stuff than the dinosaurs and fans, but I thought it was quite well done. I actually stopped buying beef treats for my dog as a result of one of the placards, which talked about the impact on the planet of using beef for pet food. We went to two gift shops, the one by the dinosaur hall and the main one near the entrance, and both were quite nice, with lots to look at for our kids. We allowed them to buy stuffies, and our three-year-old bought a tiny dodo and a tiny ankylosaurus (on theme, good job), while our six-year-old bought a flamingo to add to his flamingo collection. If there was a flamingo display at the museum, we missed it, though I suppose I wouldn't be surprised. I can tell by looking at the map now that we missed plenty. We spent a little time in the cafe, for fans and beverages, and I realized as we were leaving that I'd left my sunglasses there over an hour earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to find it at the register waiting for me. We take the kids to natural history museums at home, and I have no doubt we'd make good use of this one if we were raising them nearby. It's a wonderful place, expansive and educational, a truly amazing free resource to anyone spending time in London.

I came here during the last timeslot of the day, 3:30 PM…read more The British museum is tailor made for someone like me. The exhibits span hundreds of years. The architecture of this museum is quite unique, especially the triangular shaped windows. The gift shop in this museum spoke to me. Everything was so cute and character themed. I wished I could've booked an earlier time slot as there was not enough time to see everything by closing time.

It's not every museum that has a line wrapped around the building when it opens on a Monday…read moremorning. But the British Museum is the world's oldest public national museum, has the largest collection of artifacts of any museum in the world, and is the second most visited attraction in all of the United Kingdom. The museum is free to visit, but we reserved a timed entry ticket for when they opened on Monday morning. I suggest you do this, because people who had tickets were walking right through into the museum after a bag check, while people who had not bought tickets ahead of time were having to wait in another line to get in. The museum is so large and has so many artifacts, that it can be a little overwhelming. For that reason, we relied on the list of highlights of the museum to point us to certain artifacts we didn't want to miss: the Rosetta Stone; the colossal bust of Ramesses II (c. 1250 BC); Hoa Hakananai'a (basalt statue from Easter Island); the Ife head (Nigeria, ca. 1300-1400s); the Sutton Hoo ship burial (dating back to 7th century Britain); the Lewish Chessmen (Scottish, ca. 1150-1175); and more. Prepare for crowds and to be a little overwhelmed by people and artifacts and the size of the museum. If you want to see everything, be prepared to spend an entire in the museum. Since it's free, you can do as we did and just spend a couple of hours - that's all we had - and see what you can see (the highlights list helped)! But it's a great museum and easily one of the most important museums in the country.

Small lovely museum, funded mainly by donations with lovely staff. Educational and mind opening…read moreexperience. I hope the museum gets the opportunity to expand and have more exhibits. When we came they had an exhibit about menopause. I think more people need to learn about the vagina in general and as a whole and understand what it is like to have one and all the burdens that come along with it and without it in the end.

A soon as I saw the name on the sign outside I HAD to go in. They have a wide variety of products…read moredisplayed from information pamphlets, books and jewellery that looks like ummm well I'm not sure what word Yelp will consider PC or risqué so just read the name of the business and you'll know exactly what I'm messing. You can wear them on your ears with a knitted sweet or on a chain around your neck made of an plastic type material, they had bold showing every size, shape and colour. You can also get t-shirts. The staff stayed behind the desk but they were friendly and greeted everyone that entered. I realised like myself most people seemed to be coming in out of curiosity and don't make any purchases but b they staff took that in stride and continued greeting everyone with the same courteous smile. Kudos to this company for celebrating woman so boldly

The widlife reserve is fantastic, a great place for the young and old to get close to a huge…read morevariety of birds. The entrance fee of £7 for an adult is not cheap, however you can happily spend the day. There is a small railway, a playpark, peacocks wandering through the grounds, pigs and of course the motor museum, showing many unusual motor vehicles and providing the history behind many of it's exhibits. The cafe is cheap and provides a good selection of hot and cold snacks, alternatively take a picnic. A great day out and good value for money.

Despite it being very cold and plenty of snow on the ground, we had a lovely time…read more Plenty of ducks and swans wandering about and all in a very peaceful setting. Good to look at some of the old cars on display in the motor museum as well. Some cracking home made cake on offer as well.

A most attractive little museum with everything neatly laid out . Run entirely by dedicated…read morevolunteers who have clearly spent a lot of time putting it together. The curator and staff are really friendly and helpful and are very welcoming to families. There is a children's room which is popular with all age groups and plenty to keep younger visitors occupied. A great place to spend a couple of hours.

East Surrey Museum is an excellent source of information on Caterham and its local area geology,…read morearchaeology and local history. It holds all the Bourne Society Local History Records for reference and has detailed maps of the area going back to the late 1860's. There are excellent exhibitions on local topics which change regularly. The curator and staff are friendly and helpful with queries on local topics especially local history archaeology and geology.

Beautiful executed exhibition relating to the moon and the sun…read moreDefinitely recommend spending at least a few hours discovering the different artistic and scientific viewpoints

As we can assume from the name of this establishment, the Saatchi Gallery is a midsize…read morespace/facility that can be host to very interesting installments. I was visiting Saatchi during their Flowers installations. The collection was just ok, could be better. Since there is admission fee I was expecting more art works on the view. Saatchi is accessible facility with walking distance to public transport. Crew at Saatchi are engaging and very helpful. With so many other galleries and museums in London, I wouldn't recommend visiting unless they have interesting artworks on view that compromise the entrance fee.