In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London
Book now for my tours through August, September & October Contributing Photographer Sarah Ainslie & I spoke to some former hop pickers who were kind enough to share their tales of past adventures down in Kent. Connie Aedo – “I’m from Shovel Alley, Twine Court, at the Tower Bridge end of Cable St. I […]
Click to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours This selection of hop picking photographs is from the archive of Tower Hamlets Community Housing. Traditionally, this was the time when East Enders headed down to the Hop Farms of Kent & Sussex, embracing the opportunity of a breath of country air and earning a few bob […]
Click here to book for my next Whitechapel Tour on Sunday 23rd August. Tour includes tea and apple strudel at the Whitechapel Gallery. One of my favourite places in the East End is Bow Church, so it was a delight to visit and meet Stained Glass Conservator, Tom Vowden, while he was working on the […]
Join me this Saturday for tea and cakes freshly baked to a recipe of 1720 served in a three hundred year old house in Fournier St overlooking Christ Church. Click here to book for THE GENTLE AUTHOR’S TOUR OF SPITALFIELDS . Chris Miles contacted me from Vancouver Island, where he describes himself as a Londoner […]
CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET . For all those with a fascination with ropes and knots, the Whitechapel Gallery is currently hosting the ROPERY, a free exhibition offering visitors of all ages the opportunity to engage in hands-on rope making, spinning, twisting and knot tying, until 30th August. ‘There isn’t really a word for it […]
Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s Tours Simon Carter, Keeper of Collections at St Paul’s In a hidden chamber within the roof of St Paul’s sits Christopher Wren’s 1:25 model of the cathedral, looking for all the world like the largest jelly mould you ever saw. When Charles II examined it in the […]
Click here to book for my tours . Any readers from out of town who are preparing a visit to the capital this summer might like to read these excerpts from The Stranger’s Guide, exposing all the frauds of London, that I found in the archive at the Bishopsgate Institute. The Countryman arrived in London. […]
Magnificent Apple Strudel kindly baked by Farokh Talati, Head Chef at St John Bread & Wine for the lucky guests on this Sunday’s tour of Whitechapel. Click here to book for Whitechapel tours on Sundays 23rd August, 6th and 23rd September, and 18th October We are delighted to show these splendid cut paper collages […]
Join me for tea and cakes freshly baked to recipe of 1720 served in a 300 year old house. Click here for tickets for next Saturday’s tour of Spitalfields . You only walk in the alleys if you have a strong stomach and stout shoes, if you are willing to ignore the stink and […]
Click here to book for The Gentle Author’s tours . In 1930, basketmaker and artist Henry Silk sits alone in his sparsely furnished room in Rounton Rd in Bow surrounded by few personal possessions. He glances in the mirror and realises that he is no longer young. Yet the pair of medals from the Great […]