TOP 10 THINGS OFF THE BEATEN TRACK IN LONDON

Unfortunately I was unable to leave the UK this month (unlike the UK with the EU, amirite?), mainly due to the fact that I had a bunch of exams to take and no one else could make it either. So instead I invested my time and money into exploring the parts of England that are often overlooked in travel blogs and sites, which resulted in a pretty cool month filled with having super awesome experiences with super awesome people. And so, if you’re in London or plan on visiting, here’s my top ten favourite low-budget, low-tourist, things to do around the city.

Now I don’t know about you guys, but when I think about England I don’t necessarily tend to think about elaborately decorated Buddhist temples, or big open mosques, or even Hindu temples made of marble. Well, because I love both beautiful architecture and the ideas behind having faith, I decided to check out a few local places of worship.

Firstly I went to the Buddhapadipa Buddhist Temple in Wimbledon. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting, but free meditation sessions with monks and drinks and conversations in his house afterwards wasn’t quite it. The temple had the most incredibly stunning interior, with all hand painted, brightly coloured illustrations, and it was all so open, with everyone wandering from temple to house, drinking coffees and talking about life. Quite frankly, I didn’t believe a place could be so friendly, but as it turns out, Wimbledon offers a place with literally the nicest people I’ve ever met. This is one of the places that I will definitely be going back to, because it was incredibly brilliant.

I also went to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in London, which is a Hindu temple. Whilst not having any definitive religion myself, I do quite like the ideas of Hinduism and the equality that imbeds itself in the religion, so not only did I go to the temple but I also went into the little museum that is inside. The temple itself is insane, with all handcrafted marble decorating the ceiling and walls, I was quite taken aback. The only downside was that there isn’t as much to explore, which is however understandable as it closes off most of the rooms for people actually practising worship.

Also, I found out that one of the largest mosques in Western Europe is in Morden, a place not too far away from me, called the Baitful Futuh, so obviously I wasn’t going to miss out on visiting something so famed. My friend and I arrived at the mosque, to find that a security guard would happily give us a guided tour of the place, and then lead us to the kitchen and feed us, along with twenty other people, zarda and naan. It was completely unexpected, and reminded us that whilst the Muslim faith is widely negatively represented in the media, actual followers of Islam are just as friendly and accommodating as their religion preaches.

CAFES

Of course we all know cafes like Costa and Starbucks are prominent in England, and whilst you can get some super indie and adorable ones in London (like the one by Oxford Circus with the bamboo walls), the lesser known ones are always the best. My favourite cafe in London is one that I only went to for the first time this month, which is called the Cat Cafe, or “Cat Village“. This quickly became my favourite cafe ever when we arrived into a little room filled with dozens of cats, and watched a movie whilst drinking hot chocolates. The cats lazied about and tried to steal our drinks, and it was pretty awesome being surrounded with cool people, hot beverages, and cats. If I could go every Wednesday I totally would.

Another cafe that isn’t all too well known is Draughts, the board game cafe. Basically, you arrive at the cafe, order a drink and some snacks, and then proceed to play against people in chess and scrabble and monopoly. Draughts has over 500 board games, and is definitely somewhere to stop by in London.

CINEMAS

I for one am a massive movie fan, and watch pretty much every decent film that appears on Netflix or Amazon, mainly because what’s better than chilling in a duvet with popcorn and a TV showing Ryan Gosling? So living on the outskirts of London is a massive plus for me, because you could find a small indie cinema even if you’re just going down to a local market to buy milk, because these little buggers are everywhere. And so, this month I went to one of my favourite cinema brands – an Everyman. The one I went to was in Oxted, and has the same decor that it did sixty years ago, with the only exception being that now you have to turn off mobiles before entering. These cinemas turn it into more of an experience, with the option to sip wine at the front row, and being welcomed pre-movie by one of the people operating the film. It’s a gazillion times better than a Vue, let me tell you.

Another thing that’s quite easy to find, especially during the Summer months, is an open air cinema. These are basically big screens that pop up around the city, where you turn up and sit in chairs to watch a movie as the sun goes down over the city. They’re quite popular in Brighton too, with a couple showing on the Brighton Big Screen over the next couple of weeks, which you should definitely stop by and say hi to me if you do.

TOURS

Naturally, London is teeming with tours about Jack the Ripper and the London Bridge, and as great as they sound, you’ll often find that they are also swarming with tourists, and extremely expensive. That’s why I prefer to look at slightly more obscure tours, which are often a lot better. This month I went to Harry Potter World in Leavesden, which is part of the Warner Brothers Studios. This tour was, to be completely frank, the best tour I’ve ever been on. First up, I am a Potterhead, and I have been wanting to try a Butterbeer ever since I knew they actually existed (heads up, they are the sweetest things ever). I am also extremely interested in cinematography, and learning all about the creation of the sets and whatnot was super interesting – especially when you’re standing in the middle of the great hall or on Platform 9 3/4.

Another tour that I went on which was pretty interesting was the Shakespeare’s Globe tour, because although it doesn’t sound all too interesting, it genuinely was. We got shown around the old theatre, and our guide told us stories about what used to happen there and how much more hands-on it all was – say, if you didn’t like the actor, you’d tell them why they sucked during their performance and they’d tell you why you’re never going to do anything with your life.

CONCERTS AND SHOWS

Regardless of where you are in England, you’ll never be far from someone doing a live performance, and because they happen so often you can get them dirt cheap. For example, this month I went to a concert by a band called The Hunna, who I didn’t particularly know all too well, but I’m Welsh and love any opportunity to dance – and the tickets were literally only a tenner each. So I went with my friend Shade who thought the band was a Jewish cult, and for the first half an hour of the set we danced like mad – until we found out that it was the opening act and not The Hunna themselves. It was an awesome concert though, with hundreds of teenagers all crowded into this one room filled with beer and sweat, with people hanging from shoulders, and cigarettes hanging from mouths.

I also went to the ballet, which is a complete contrast to The Hunna. I went with a super indie guy to see Swan Lake, which was something like three hours long. I thought it would be mind-numbingly boring, but was pleasantly suprised. It was incredible the way that the dancers had every single move calculated in order to give off such a flawless performance, and once I bought the program which actually explained what the hell was going on, I could enjoy it properly.

Also in London, you can find a lot of jazz bars. I didn’t realise the sheer amount there was until I came across one called Ronnie Scott’s, and another a couple days later. My guess is that these would be a lot more enjoyable if you’re over 18 and can legally sip some cider whilst listening to smooth jazz, but I wouldn’t want to miss out on one just because of that.

FESTIVALS

You can quite easily find some kind of small festival happening in and around London on any day of the week – be it a food festival or an art festival, or even something like a festival commemorating 1960’s dance. This month I went to a food festival that was pretty local to me, in Caterham, which was filled with people eager to try new things and spend lots of money on different types of homemade tea. There was another local one in Oxted that we passed by, and with so many opportunities to get some free food, it’s a wonder I need to buy any food at all.

PARADES

Anyone who knows anything about London would tell you that it’s a city of art, and that the place is just swarming with paintings and music and food. There’s also an incredible amount of museums here, and I’ve been to a couple this month about Hinduism, and, my favourite, one called the Hunterian Museum. This museum is basically just there for medical students so that they can understand a little bit more about the human body, but I went there just because it looked cool. It’s basically filled with all these organs of people and animals in jars, which initially seemed like an intriguing concept, but after ten minutes made me feel as if I may pass out. If you’re strong stomached and interested in things like this then I would suggest you go – but only if you’re okay seeing eight month old foetuses with all their nails and hair, curled up in little jars from a hundred years ago.

NATURE

Now for most people, I wouldn’t expect them to automatically think of nature when they think of London, because city and countryside are two complete polar opposites. However, there are some pretty awesome ‘off the beaten track’ places to go to which are beautiful and covered in wildlife. If you’re closer to central London, you can easily find places like Hampstead Heath, which are similar to Hyde Park but with a lot less tourists milling about (and a lake that you can actually go swimming in that isn’t filled with rubbish). And then if you’re slightly out of England, say around the Swansea area, you can find places like Penllergaer Woods, which you can spend the night camping in, with a waterfall to your left and endless forest to your right.

One of my favourite things to do is spend time by the ocean, and if you’re willing to go a couple miles south of London you get beautiful beaches such as Brighton and Eastbourne, and if you go further North then you get places like the Mumbles. All these places are filled with insane beauty from both natural things like the ocean, and also handmade things like Pavilions. I went to Brighton just a couple of days ago, and the day was filled with culture, beauty, and, naturally, food. Is there anything greater than  day at the seaside?

    

My utmost favourite thing to do around London is to just wander the towns and see where life takes you. I’ve had some of the best experiences by having absolutely no idea what I’m doing and just rolling with it. I’ve ended up with incredible views, meeting incredible people. I’ve been fed food, shown art, and photographed. I’ve gone on accidental dates, been sold mixtapes, and gone inside spooky barber shops with potential murderers (okay, that one was pretty dodgy). And so, the final place I can recommend is – everywhere. Wander, and go everywhere you can, because that’s the only way to get the experiences and stories to come to you.

My friend Valentini wrote about the Vagina Museum in London, which is a place that I did not even know existed but which sounds pretty exciting.