You can pretty much guarantee that London will give you a good time, no matter who you are.

Whether you’re a tourist visiting the bright lights of England’s capital for the first time, or a hardened Londoner who chews on jellied eels, bellows Knees up Mother Brown at passers-by and understands why taxi drivers don’t go “sath of tha riva”, there are always new discoveries to be made in this sprawling city.

Of course, other guides might try to fob you off by recommending the staples – Buckingham Palace, Westminster, the National Gallery. But we’ve put together something a little different, the places that it might not occur to you to visit.

If you’re travelling from Gatwick Airport, drop your car off at the Gatwick Meet and Greet, make your way into the city and get ready for a good time.

Have your Great Expectations met at the Charles Dickens Museum.

Charles Dickens – writer of Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and countless others – used London as the canvas for almost all his tales. Famously, the esteemed writer would wander around the most impoverished areas of the capital at night, using the squalor as inspiration.

The Charles Dickens Museum is the home to this legend’s canon, and features a slew of facts, relics and manuscripts from the writer’s life. Situated in the house where Dickens once lived, it’s a truly unique experience that almost lets you breathe the same air as one of Victorian England’s true greats.

The finest grub in Chinatown

Chinatown is one of the finest places to eat in all of London – that is, if you’re a fan of Chinese food.

To start with, try out the modestly priced Four Seasons, a restaurant famed for its Cantonese-style roast duck. If you’re heading down Wardour Street, you’ll find it easy to spot – it’s the one with the barbecued meats displayed in the window.

If you’re looking for a more authentic look to your dining, try out Longji on Charing Cross Road. Kitted out just like a Hong Kong fast food joint, it’ll give you the flavour of Asia in both sight and taste.

A laugh of an evening

The Comedy Store has become a mecca for stand-up comedy in the UK, priding itself on presenting the best in up and coming comics.

Originally making its name during the alternative comedy scene of the 80s, it played host to figures like Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Paul Merton, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French, among others.

Now, it’s where comics come to make a name for themselves and, if you’re up for a laugh, it’s the perfect end to your night.

If the romantic, literary moiety of your soul needs an infusion of traditional English indulgence, you could do a lot worse than repair to the East Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby.

With the ancient peaks and haunted heights of its ruined abbey having played home to England’s first poet, Caedmon, and later shelter to that evilest of vampires, Dracula, in Bram Stoker’s nineteenth century gothic novel of the same name, and its maritime memorials to Captain Cook and William Scoresby, this phantasmagorically beautiful fishing hamlet fires both the imagination and the spirit in spades.

The abbey is a ruined Benedictine specimen, disestablished in Henry VIII’s famous Dissolution and, now a Grade 1 Listed Building overlooking the bleak North Sea of the town’s East Cliff, it is one of Yorkshire’s greatest ruins.

As you take the 199 steps down toward the harbour, stunning views and quixotic vistas present themselves at every turn, until you make your final descent into twisty weinds and shaded alleys lined with bric-a-brac and curio shops, cafés, restaurants, tearooms and inns.

And, of course, those famous fish and chip shops. Whatever the style of your sojourn to this picturesque retreat, you must at some point sample Whitby fish ’n’ chips. Whether eaten out in the fresh air as nature intended, or ingested enthusiastically in one of the many excellent eateries, this North Yorkshire delicacy is to be savoured with relish.

Then, replete and with your evening rounded nicely with a mug of the finest Yorkshire ale, you can turn your gaze once again abbeywards, heaving a sigh of melancholy satisfaction before bending your steps homewards, wherever you may have chosen to lay your weary head for the night.

Any self-respecting sci-fi buff will always thrill to the happenstance of the discovery of some new exhibition or artefact, but occasionally such an operation will throw itself in your way in the most unlikely of venues and circumstances.

Such is the case in the quiet Herefordshire town of Bromyard – so quaint and picturesque in itself that it rather more suits the appellation of ‘village’ – where can be found, without much in the way of looking, The Time Machine Museum of Science Fiction, nestling mysteriously at 12, The Square.

In fact, The Time Machine is the type of collection that will thrill even those who are not such devout fans of the genre, by presenting a beautiful collation of models, toys, screen-used props and a cornucopia of memorabilia from the golden age of sci-fi TV set happily alongside the most up-to-date acquisitions from recent Dr Who episodes featuring Matt Smith. You’ll also find some great displays from such classics as Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Star Trek, Star Wars, Red Dwarf and Buffy, that ever-resourceful vampire slayer.

The Museum is open every day during all Bank Holidays and all local School Holidays from 10.30am to 4.30pm, and the same times Wednesday to Sunday from April through to September. October to March it is still open every weekend.

A rare treat, this stunning exhibition is lovingly presided over by the owner, who delights in sharing a lifetime’s collection with his eager visitors.

At £8 a throw for adults (£6 for kids) this is an amazing experience, enhanced by authentic musical scores which add an ambience of magic and excitement, and – in our opinion, at any rate – not to be missed.

Featured on BBC 2’s Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, Friday 8th November, 2013

Visit www.timemachineuk.com

The Time Machine Museum of Science Fiction
12 The Square
Bromyard
Herefordshire
HR7 4BP
England

Tel.: 0044 1885 488329

Email info@timemachineuk.com