Following hot on the trail of the free London walks that were announced in our blog yesterday, we thought that today we’d make a few suggestions of things to do in London that won’t cost you a single penny.
A favourite attraction amongst our walking tour guides is the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Sir John Soane was an architect who died in 1837.
In his will he left his house to the nation on condition it would be open to the public free for evermore. That house is one of London’s true time capsules and inside you are pitched back to the early 19th century to wander corridors lined with an eclectic collection of art treasure, architectural curios and even originals of William Hogarth’s Rake’s Progress and Election Campaign.
The house is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10am to 4pm and admission is free. One word of warning, it is getting more popualr with every year and there can be a wait of up to 40 minutes to get inside so it is best to arrive earlier rather than later in the day.
Across Lincoln’s Inn Fields from Sir John Soane’s House is the Royal College of Surgeons. On their first floor is the Hunterian Museum, the former private collection of the great 18th century surgeon John Hunter.
Inside this very different museum you can see artifacts as diverse as the Skeleton of Jonathon Wilde, the 18th Century Thief Taker, half of the brain of Charles Babbage, the computer Pioneer, and Winston Churchill’s dentures!
This museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm and you don’t have to line up to get inside! Mind you, some of the exhibits are, to say the least, slightly gruesome (well to be honest very gruesome) so it might be advisable not to eat before or after your visit!
So there you have two fascinating London attractions that are different and which won’t cost you a penny to visit. Combined visit time for both is close on half a day and we guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.
Of course, if you want to learn about the area around the buildings and fit them into the context of the area then a good way to do it is on one of our London walks that cover the district. We will be offering a regular London walk around it later this year, and a free PDF London tour will be going live in the next two months.
In the meantime, you can use the quick request form at the top of the page to request our free Harry Potter London Tour.
More London for free suggestions will follow soon, so please keep returning to our website for updates.
Tags: Free London walks, Harry Potter London Tour, Hunterian Museum, London For Free, London walks, Royal Colleg of Surgeons, Sir John Soane Museum. Rakes Progress. Election Campaign
