A Peep in the London Aquarium

Address:             County Hall,
London SE1 7PB,
United Kingdom

Opening Day: Daily

Entry Tickets: Adult £17.50

Contact: +44(0)20 7967 8000
Website: www.sealife.co.uk

New SEA LIFE Aquarium has a huge collection of marine life from all around the globe. UK has about 28 aquariums to flaunt, and the New LIFE Aquarium is among its best preserves. The collection at this aquarium is a great source of knowledge, besides being a place for great entertainment. It is extended on three floors, all of which have a collection of water tanks, displaying a huge variety of animal life species. The collection is divided in 14 different zones, which has marine life coming form different types of water. The New SEA LIFE Aquarium has an intriguing collection of animals from Indian Ocean, Pacific ocean, Thames River, ponds, freshwater etc. Here you can expect to see 400 species of fishes, Whales, seahorse, sharks, octopus etc. Your journey through a tunnel made of glass will let you a thrilling journey from underneath the sea. You can get involved in various activities while on your way through the glass tunnel. You can feed marine animals and watch them taking dip and playing.

The collection at New SEA LIFE preserves a lot of marine life from extinction, and brings them for the people to see. It is really interesting to see so many marine life living in a created suitable environment, which gives them a feel of their natural habitat. This aquarium is a must visit while you are here. It will give you an opportunity of adding up something to your knowledge, while entertaining yourself. Choose to be a part of this thrilling London attraction, which is a sheer fun to be at. It is very suitably located at the centre of the city which allows a lot of sightseeing tours in London.You can travel to the Kensington tube station, which will leave this attraction really close. You can also choose to live in this part of London, which give you access to varied famous attraction of London like you can follow the Royal Ceremony of Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. There is a mélange of options available with the Westminster hotels London. Choose from the hotels which range from cheap to luxury hotels.

The Fan Museum

The Fan Museum is located in Greenwich London and is undoubtedly the first ever museum dedicated entirely to “fans”. The museum was set up to keep the art of fan making alive. The Fan Museum is used as a centre of academic research and conservation too. The museum is home to more than 4000 objects related to fan making or fans. Each item is distinctly different and unique. Apart from the permanent display of its objects, the Fan Museum also features many temporary or seasonal thematic exhibitions many a times during the year (usually every 4 months).

The one of its kind museum holds the largest collection of fans dating back to the 11^th Century. The museum also has been a home to some of the finest exquisite fans from the 18^th and 19^th century. You can explore more than 3500 antique fans including a variety of ceiling fans, etc at the museum.

The Fan Museum was first opened to the public in the year 1991 and ever since has been amongst one of the busiest London attractions. The English Tourist Board and the National Art Collections Fund awarded, The Fan Museum, for its contributions to the arts and tourism in the first year of the museum’s opening. The Fan Museum has a gallery, a Japanese garden, a pond, a stream and a gifts shop. The museum also features a Greenhouse which is termed as the ‘orangery’ and is highly appreciated for its wall paintings.

The oldest fan at The Fan Museum is believed to be belonging to the tenth century. Conversely, the collection of fans dating to the 18^th and 19^th century is equally impressive. The Fan Museum also has a reference library and fan-making classes, held at the museum premises.

The Fan Museum is administrated by a charitable trust and over the years has been sponsored by the London Tourist Board, the foundation for sports and the arts, the national art collections fund, English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Heritage of London Trust and by many individuals and corporate supporters.

On the 8^th of June in the year 2005 some of the fans were stolen from The Fan Museum. The theft reportedly took place around 2:45 pm BST. According to the sources one entire cabinet was broken and the fans were removed. The thief was apparently about 6 feet tall, aged around 35 years, a Caucasian male. The thief was never caught and is still at large.

The Fan Museum was privileged as The Duchess of Cornwall accepted to be the Patron of the Fan Museum on 7^th of January 2009. The day was also special in history as the Duchess of Cornwall was the first member of the Royal family to visit The Fan Museum. The Director and Founder of The Fan Museum - Helene Alexander, gave a personal tour to the Duchess of Cornwall.

The Fan Museum remains open all days of the year and only remains closed on the Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Mondays. The museum opens on Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11:00am to 5:00pm BST and 12:00pm to5:00pm BST on Sundays.

The museum charges a £4 entrance fee for adults, £3 for children under 16 and children under 7 are admitted free of charge. There are special concessions of £3 for senior citizens and students with identity cards. On Tuesdays, handicap or disabled visitors and Old Age Pensioners (OAP) are admitted free of cost. Also afternoon tea is served in the Orangery from 3pm onwards on Tuesdays and Sundays.

The nearest London Underground stations are the Cutty Sark tube station, Deptford Bridge DLR station and the New Cross tube station. The closest mainline railway stations are Greenwich Station which is half a kilometer and Maze Hill Station which is under a kilometer from the museum.

The Fan Museum won the Gold medal at the Visit London Awards 2006. Also, the museum is housed at a building which was erected in the year 1721, which is a grade II building according to the British standards. The museum is situated in the Greenwich World Heritage Site in South East London and is easily accessible by the road, rail and the London Underground.

London Museums And Art Gallery

The Horniman Museum was setup in the year 1901 by Fredrick Horniman in South London. The museum is located in Forest Hill in South London. The museum is believed to have been commissioned in the year 1898; however it only opened to the public in 1901. The Horniman Museum is designed by the great designer Charles Harrison Townsend in a most exquisite arts and crafts style. The museum has been a non-departmental public body ever since it opened. The museum is owned and administrated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Also one very surprising fact about the museum is that the museum is constituted as a company and registered as charity under the British Law. This is amongst the most visited London Museums in the city.

History of the Horniman Museum
The Horniman Museum was founded by a great man called Fredrick John Horniman. Fredrick was a Victorian tea trader by profession. When he had first opened the museum, the museum only contained Fredrick’s collection of cultural artifacts, natural history and musical instruments. The museum like the name suggests is named after its found Frederick Horniman. Soon as a decade passed, in around 1911, another building was added to the west wing of the museum compound. The new building was also designed by Charles Harrison Townsend. The building was donated by Frederick Horniman’s son itself, Emslie Horniman. The Horniman Museum was closed in the year 1999 and underwent a drastic refurbishment. The museum re-opened to public on 14th June 2002. The Horniman Museum has also been awarded with the Chartermark National Award 2008 for Excellence Customer Service in public sector.

 

Places to be explored at the Horniman Museum
The Horniman Museum is also listed as a grade II conservatory in England. The place has a mini zoo and an aquarium which kids find very entertaining. Has a collection of musical instruments from literally from A to Z of instruments. From an Accordion to a Zuria Pepa Hornpipe, it has more than 650 different musical instruments from all over the world.

•    Natural History Gallery – Contains 250,000 objects related to natural history
•    Music Gallery – Over 8,000 musical instruments
•    Art Museums and Art Gallery- Holds 90,000 objects on Anthropology
•    Gardens - The gardens received Best Parks of the South East England region in 2005 award. Received Green Flag (Green Flag is the national standard for parks and green spaces in England and Wales) in 2007 for the fifth continuous year
•    Miniature Zoo- A popular attraction amongst the kids
•    Museum Aquarium- The Aquarium was opened in July 2006 and displays fish and oceanic objects including living displays of London pondlife, British seashore, South American rainforest and Fijian reef etc
•    Bandstand- Established in the year 1912 bandstand is a famous tourists attractions in London.

Museum Timings
Museum
The Museum is open all days of the year except from 24th to 26th December. The opening hours of the museum are 10:30 am to 5:30 pm BST all days of the week.
Garden
The Gardens are open all days of the year except for the Christmas Day. The gardens open its gates from 7:30 am to the sunset on Monday to Saturday and from 8:00am to sunset on Sundays.
Library
The Horniman Library as for now only runs on appointment basis as they believe that by that they can better anticipate your needs.

Entrance Free
There is no entrance charge or fee to the Horniman Museum or the Gardens. However, you might have to pay for some of the major temporary exhibitions being held at the museum premises.

Travelling to the museum
The Forest Hill is the nearest station and the Horniman Museum is a just a short walk from the station. You can take the rail to the Forest Hill station which just takes around 13 minutes from the London Bridge. There also other direct trains from Clapham Junction and London Victoria stations.
If you plan to travel by bus there are many buses that stop right outside the museum gates. Some of them are P4, 176, 185, 197 and 356.

The museum has transformed into a place for everyone with its latest renovation from 1999 to 2002. . In the Horniman Museum one can enjoy exploring the cultural and natural world.

London Canal Museum And Party Venue

The London Canal Museum is one of the many famous London Attractions. The museum is located in the heart of London’s King’s Cross. The museum neighbours the Battlebridge Basin sited on the Regent’s Canal. The museum is sited in a building which was more of a warehouse, set up dating back to 1860. The building was used as a storehouse for the ice imported from Norway via the canal barge and ship. The London Canal Museum was only opened to the public in 1992 and ever since has attracted tourists.

History
Although the Mongol Dynasty had invented the canal system of travelling way back in the 10th century there is no concrete proof that the Chinese were the first one. The British made the Regent’s Canal reportedly in and around the 16th century and used it for trading and transporting goods. It was easier to load goods on the boat and transport them through the canals. The Regent’s Canal became famous by the day and night in 1790s and by the end of 1850; Britain was covered with over 4000 miles of navigable waterways. Soon the English started transporting 30 millions of freights every year. Canals were run by private companies and these employed groups of men with an intention of protecting the goods from any theft. They later became the Canal Police forces. After the Second World War, the canals were nationalized and the forces became a part of the British Transport Commission Police.

Admission Charges
The London Canal Museum charges a nominal entrance fee of £3 for adults, £1.50 for children and £2 for students, senior citizens and the unemployed. Children under the age of 4 are admitted free but should be at all times accompanied by an adult. Citizens over 60 are considered as seniors. To avail the students’ concession a student identity card must be produced.

Travelling to the museum
The nearest London Underground station is the King’s Cross tube station which is just a 4 minutes walk from the museum. Angel tube station and Euston tube stations are also nearby, the museum is hardly 15 minutes from these tube stations. If you choose to travel by the main-line railway stations then the King’s Cross Railway Station, St Pancras Railway Station, Eurostar Terminal and King’s Cross Thameslink Railway Stations are just 5 minutes away from the London Canal Museum.

Opening Hours
The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00am to 4:30pm BST. It is open late on the first Thursday of every month till 7:30pm BST. It is also open on Bank Holidays. The last admission is 30 minutes before the closing time. The London Canal Museum remains closed every year on 24th, 25th, 26th   and 31st of December for the occasion of Christmas and New Year.

Refreshment Shop
The London Canal Museum has a shop inside the museum premises which sells ice cream and canned cold drinks. Tea and coffee is also provided for groups of 10 or more if noticed beforehand. Unfortunately there is no other refreshment facility in the building; however there are many food outlets nearby within a 5 minute walking range.

Hire the museum
The London Canal Museum can also be hired for weddings, cocktail parties, business meetings, press launches, corporate training and conferences. The museum has an amazing Victorian building which makes it an awe-inspiring, one of its kind and unusual venue. If you are planning something out of the box for your party, the London Canal Museum is the perfect place for you to hire.  The museum is situated in a quite corner near the King’s Cross, so you can have your corporate meeting in complete peace. You can also choose to have a lavish wedding here at the museum; arrive in a boat, depart in a boat or simply get married in a boat in the canal. The best part is that the museum is available to hire on all Mondays, and from 4:30 pm to 10:00pm BST on Tuesdays to Sundays. The complete building has Wi-Fi in case you need it for your business meetings. There is a small business room that is available for hire on all days as a venue.

Natural History Museum

London is home to several museums and galleries. The city is the capital of United Kingdom and is situated close to the river Thames. The city has a rich, royal history and glorious heritage. The galleries and museums in London attract millions of tourists from all around the world. Amongst all the well known museums and galleries Natural History Museum is one of the most popular tourist attraction in London. Natural History Museum is located at the renowned exhibition road and has an easy access from the south Kensington tube station. Opened in the year 1881, it is by far one of the largest and finest museums in the field of natural history. The museum displays several interactive such as dinosaurs, volcano experience, creepy crawlies, earth treasury, blue whale and many more. The entry in the museum is absolutely free of charge and the opening time of the museum is from 10: 00 – 17:50. The museum is open on all week days except from 24th – 26th December. Experienced guides are available in the museums to help you explore this spectacular museum even better.

The museum is globally famous for is phenomenal collection on natural history and is home to more than 70 million items. The collection at the museum comprises of earth and life sciences specimens. The collection is divided into five sub categories – zoology, mineralogy, botany, entomology and paleontology. It is also a globally well known research centre and specializes in conservation, identification and taxonomy. The Darwin’s collection in the museum is amongst the most valuable collection in the world. The Darwin live centre is a free event organized at the museum. It gives an opportunity to all the visitors, to talk to the scientists who actually work and exhibit the exceptional collections in the museum. The library at the Natural History Museum is also one of the best libraries in the city. It contains manuscripts, journals, books and artworks of science departments. The dinosaur skeleton exhibition is the most popular exhibition of this museum. You can also savor a variety of delicious food at the on sight restaurant at the museum.

The museum also hosts a well appointed snacks bar, café’s and picnic area offering extremely friendly atmosphere. The museum shop, dino store and earth shop at the museum offer a variety of souvenir, gifts and replicas. The museum also offers several facilities such as cash machine, telephones, toilets, first aid and information desk. Visitors are allowed to click photographs but its recommended not to take any sharp object inside the museum as your belongings are checked before you enter the museum. The museum organizes several exhibitions on a daily basis and the following are the exhibitions that will be organized from 8th June to 15th June:
• Tree
• Ida fossil cast on display
• Butterfly Jungle
• Wildlife Garden Workshops
• Pondbusters

The museum organizes several special exhibitions for the kids and students. It is extremely educational and interesting.