Conway Hall

A home for automated arcade machines.

The former home of architect Sir John Soane, the building has been converted into a museum, displaying some of the objects he collected during his lifetime, including the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, and paintings by artists including William Hogarth. There is a display of some of Soane's architectural plans on the upper floor. Be sure to wait in the picture room until the guides open the walls up to reveal further paintings behind. The museum is a little-known tourist attraction, but well worth a visit. Admission free (but you're encouraged to leave a donation), you can walk in on the day.

Like Gray's Inn, one of the four societies of the bar. The wonderful old buildings here are arranged around the open spaces of Lincoln's Inn Fields and a walk around this area will give any visitor a real sense of the history and grand traditions of the legal profession in London.

One of the four Inns of Court in London who hold the exclusive right to call qualified legal professionals to the bar, i.e. to become barristers at law. The grand buildings housing the inns are arranged around lovely green gardens. There are records of Gray's Inns operating from this location since the 14th century.

Contemporary art gallery tucked away in a quiet cobbled mews. Hosts a couple of exhibitions a year, entry needs to be booked in advance.

Inside the Royal College of Surgeons. Exhibitions on the history of surgery, including medicine, natural history and art. The museum was established by John Hunter (1728-1793), the founder of scientific surgery.