NEW:
Every Monday we’ll pluck just
one walk from the vast London Walks
repertoire and put it center stage.
You can check out the full schedule at www.walks.com.
But if you only take one walking tour this week, why not make it…
THE SECRETS OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY "a three-dimensional walk-through history of England
10.45 am on Mondays from WestminsterTube, exit 4
Ah, Westminster Abbey! Royal weddings of course. But also a great religious centre, the place where kings and queens were crowned and often buried, the seed-bed of democratic government, the driving force of English music – the Abbey is England in microscosm. It's also a building of splendour, intricacy and consummate virtuosity. (Henry III spent one-tenth of the entire wealth of the kingdom on it.) Its particulars are astonishing: the greatest work of medieval art in Britain; the finest Renaissance tomb north of the Alps; priceless 13th-century wall paintings; waxworks far superior to Madame Tussaud"s; monumental sculpture and memorial tablets that are a tableau of national biography. Not that you need one – but you want another reason for going on this tour? We save you ££s on the price of admission to the Abbey!
Now how about some audio. Two "bites" from two top flight, award-winning Blue Badge guides. First, a Wow! from Brian. It's just 90 seconds but it illustrates perfectly why it's so important to do the Abbey with a guide. The detail he lasers in on here you just would never spot off your own bat. Ditto Mary guiding in the Henry VII chapel. (That bit where she describes the fan vaulting as looking like swirling dancers is just SO Mary.) And for another take, here's a "grab" from the Secret Westminster chapter of our book, London Walks London Stories.
N.B., there's an admission charge* to the Abbey but we get you a big big discount. And a huge plus – we sail right in, whereas "the public" often have to queue for an hour or more.
*Because of the Abbey's strict lilmitation on the size of tour groups we have to charge £3 each for children.
The Secrets of Westminster Abbey walk takes place every Monday at 10.45 am.
Meet Chris, Hilary, Gillian, Mary or Tom just outside exit 4 of WestminsterTube.
