London for The Romantics: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Two thousand years in layers, and a pint in every one.
The weekend for two. Terraces at dusk, a table booked weeks ago, a walk home the long way. Nothing before ten, nothing rushed, one extravagance you will talk about for years.
Friday: Dusk over the river
- Sky Garden
Free, but book a slot a few weeks ahead. Take the late one and watch the city switch its lights on from thirty-five floors up.
- Millennium Bridge
Cross on foot with St Paul's glowing behind you; the bridge wobbled on opening day in 2000 and has been well behaved since.
- Swan at the Globe
A first-floor window over the river and the cathedral, with a short British menu that suits a long table for two.
Saturday: Gardens and a golden house
- Kyoto Garden
A small Japanese garden with a waterfall, koi and the odd peacock; go before the weekend crowd finds it and walk the loop twice.
- Leighton House Museum
A Victorian painter's house with a gold-roofed Arab Hall and Iznik tiles; ask for the garden-side rooms, which get the light.
- Rules
London's oldest restaurant, open since 1798: red banquettes, game in season and a table that feels like a secret. Book well ahead.
Sunday: Up on the Heath
- Parliament Hill
The best free view of the skyline, from a grass hill, with a flask and a blanket and nobody asking you to move.
- Kenwood House
Robert Adam's white villa holds a Rembrandt self-portrait and a Vermeer, and the ticket is nothing at all. The lawn runs down to a lake.
- The Spaniards Inn
A low-beamed pub that Dickens used in Pickwick Papers; the Sunday roast is generous and the garden has a fire pit when the weather turns.
Monday: A last long lunch
- The Wallace Collection
Free, hushed and packed with Fragonard and Boucher in a townhouse; the glass-roofed courtyard is the place for coffee.
- Honey & Co
A tiny Middle Eastern kitchen where the shakshuka and the orange blossom cake come with a warm welcome; arrive at opening for a table.