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Handel House Museum
George Frederick Handel lived in this 18th-century Mayfair building for 36 years until his death in 1759, and the house opened as a museum in late 2001. It has been restored to how it would have looked when the great German-born composer was in residence, complete with artworks borrowed from several museums.
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Highgate Cemetery
Most famous as the final resting place of Karl Marx and other notable mortals, Highgate Cemetery is set in 20 wonderfully wild and atmospheric hectares with dramatic and overdecorated Victorian graves and sombre tombs. It's divided into two parts. On the eastern side you can visit the grave of Marx. It's an amusing coincidence that buried opposite is the free-market economist Herbert Spencer - Marx and Spencer, does it ring a bell?
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Highgate Wood
With more than 28 hectares of ancient woodland, this park is a wonderful spot for a walk any time of the year. It's also teeming with life, some 70 different bird species have been recorded here, five types of bat, 12 of butterfly and 80 different kinds of spider. It also has a huge clearing in the centre for sports, a popular playground and nature trail for kids and a range of activities - from falconry to bat-watching - throughout the year.
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HMS Belfast
Moored in the Thames opposite the newly laid-out Potters Fields Park, HMS Belfast is a big toy that kids of all ages generally love. Of course, for most of its commissioned life this large, light cruiser had a rather more serious purpose than as a plaything. Launched in 1938 from the Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff, it served in WWII, most noticeably in the Normandy landings, and during the Korean War.
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Hogarth's House
Home between 1749 and 1764 to artist and social commentator William Hogarth, this house now showcases his caricatures and engravings, including such famous works as the haunting Gin Lane , Marriage à la Mode and a copy of A Rake's Progress . Although the house and grounds are attractive, very little original furniture remains so this is really a destination for ardent Hogarth fans.
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Holborn Viaduct
This fine iron bridge was built in 1869 in an effort to smarten up the area, as well as to link Holborn and Newgate St above what had been a valley created by the River Fleet. The four bronze statues represent Commerce and Agriculture (on the northern side) and Science and Fine Arts (on the south).
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Horniman Museum
This museum is an extraordinary place, comprising the original collection of wealthy pack rat tea merchant Frederick John Horniman, who had the Art Nouveau building with clock tower and mosaics specially designed to house it in 1901. Today it encompasses everything from a dusty stuffed walrus and voodoo altars from Haiti and Benin to a mock-up of a Fijian reef and a wonderful collection of concertinas.
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Horse Guards Parade
In a more accessible version of Buckingham Palace's Changing of the Guard, the mounted troopers of the Household Cavalry change guard here daily, at the official entrance to the royal palaces (opposite the Banqueting House). A lite-pomp version takes place at when the dismounted guards are changed. On the Queen's official birthday in June, the Trooping of the Colour is also staged here.
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House Mill
The only remaining one of a trio of mills that once stood on this small island in the River Lea, the House Mill (1776) operated as a sluice tidal mill, grinding grain for a nearby distillery, until 1940. Tours, which run according to demand and last about 45 minutes, take visitors to all four floors of the mill and offer a fascinating look at traditional East End industry. There's a small café and shop on site.
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Houses of Parliament
The House of Commons and House of Lords are housed here in the sumptuous Palace of Westminster. Charles Barry, assisted by interior designer Augustus Pugin, built it between 1840 and 1860, when the extravagant neo-Gothic style was all the rage. The most famous feature outside the palace is the Clock Tower, commonly known as Big Ben.
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Hunterian Museum
The collection of anatomical specimens of pioneering surgeon John Hunter (1728-93) inspired this fascinating, slightly morbid, little-known, yet fantastic London museum. Among the more bizarre items on display are the skeleton of a 2.3m giant, half of mathematician Charles Babbage's brain, and, Winston Churchill's dentures.
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Hyde Park
London's legendary park spreads itself over a whopping 145 hectares of neatly manicured gardens and wild, deserted expanses of overgrown grass. Spring prompts the gorgeous Rose Gardens into vivacious bloom, and summers are full of sunbathers, picnickers, Frisbee-throwers and general London populace who drape themselves across the green.
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Imperial War Museum
Despite the threatening pair of 15-inch naval guns outside the front entrance to what was once Bethlehem Royal Hospital, commonly known as Bedlam, this is for the most part a very sombre, thoughtful museum. Most of its exhibits are given over to exploring the human and social cost of conflict.
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Inner Temple
Duck under the archway next to Prince Henry's Room and you'll find yourself in the Inner Temple, a sprawling complex of some of the finest buildings on the river. The church was originally planned and built by the secretive Knights Templar between 1161 and 1185. At the weekend you'll usually have to enter from the Victoria Embankment.
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Institute of Contemporary Arts
Housed in a traditional building along the Mall, the ICA is as untraditional as it gets. This is where Picasso and Henry Moore had their first UK shows, and ever since then the institute has sat comfortably on the cutting and controversial edge of the British arts world, with an excellent range of experimental/progressive/radical/obscure films, music and club nights, photography, art, theatre, music, lectures, multimedia works and book readings.
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Jewel Tower
The Jewel Tower was built in 1365 to house the treasury of Edward III and is one of the last vestiges of the medieval Palace of Westminster. Today it houses exhibitions about the history and procedures of Parliament. There's a 25-minute explanatory video (when it works) and this is a useful first stop before a visit to the House of Commons.
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Jewish Museum
This branch of the Jewish Museum examines Judaism and Judaistic religious practices in the prestigious Ceremonial Art Gallery, and the story of the Jewish community in Britain from the time of the Normans to the present day through paintings, photographs and artefacts in the History Gallery. There's also a gallery for temporary exhibitions.
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Karl Marx Memorial Library
Clerkenwell has quite a radical history. An area of Victorian-era slums (the so-called Rookery), it was settled by mainly Italian immigrants in the 19th century. Modern Italy's founding father Garibaldi dropped by in 1836, and during his European exile, Lenin edited 17 editions of the Russian-language Bolshevik newspaper Iskra (Spark) from here in 1902-03.
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Keats House
A stone's throw from the lower reaches of the heath, this elegant Regency house was home to the golden boy of the Romantic poets from 1818 to 1820. Keats wrote his most celebrated poem, Ode to a Nightingale , whilst sitting under a plum tree (now replaced) in the garden in 1819.
Undergoing redevelopment at the time of writing and due to reopen in late 2008.
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Kennington Park
This unprepossessing space of green has a great rabble-rousing tradition. Originally a common, where all were permitted entry, it acted as a speakers' corner for South London. After the great Chartist rally on 10 April 1848, where millions of working-class people turned out to demand the same voting rights as the middle classes, the royal family promptly fenced off and patrolled the common as a park.
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Kensal Green Cemetery
Thackeray and Trollope are among the eminent dead at this huge and handsome Victorian cemetery, which made a name for itself in the 19th century as the place where the VIPs preferred to RIP. Ambitious two-hour tours start from the Anglican chapel in the centre of the cemetery.
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Kensington Gardens
These gardens have become something of a shrine to Princess Diana's memory, with a playground, a walk and now a fountain dedicated to her. Art is another feature - George Frampton's famous statue of Peter Pan is close to the lake, beside an attractive area known as Flower Walk. There are also sculptures by Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein here.
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Kensington Palace
Welded in people's memory as the residence of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Kensington Palace's lawn was covered with a mountain of flowers following the death of the 'people's princess' in September 1997, an episode in history that showed the Brits loosening the stiff upper lip and mourning the princess with unprecedented sentimentality. A glimpse of Diana's frocks in the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection is always a highlight.
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Kenwood House
This magnificent neoclassical mansion stands in a glorious sweep of landscaped gardens leading down to a picturesque lake. The house was remodelled by Robert Adam in the 18th century; his Great Stairs and the library are especially fine. Today it contains paintings by the likes of Gainsborough, Reynolds, Turner, Hals, Vermeer and Van Dyck.
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Kew Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is one of the most popular visitors' attractions in London, which means it can get very crowded during summer, especially at weekends. Spring is probably the best time to visit, but at any time of year this 120-hectare expanse of lawns, formal gardens and greenhouses has delights to offer.
