Kenwood House

For the beer- lovers, coming to Kenwood House allows you to see where magnate Edward Cecil Guinness lived (yes, he of the Irish drink of choice!). When he died in 1927, he gave the property to the nation.

This elegant villa, re-modelled by the famous Robert Adam, houses an awesome collection of paintings, including ones by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Turner and Gainsborough. The first floor displays a different array of paintings- those of portraits of wealthy families in the 1880s.

Particularly important for their display of period costume and textile detail, these portraits include Elizabethan and Stuart ladies and noblemen, by William Larkin, Van Dyck and Lely, as well as paintings of King Charles I and James II.

The parkland surrounding Kenwood was particularly influenced by the great English landscape gardener, Humphry Repton. Set high on a hill, the views of London from these tranquil grounds are breathtaking, and can be easily included in a visit to the Heath, and this leafy suburb on a summer's day.