Alchemy

Crofton Roman villa

Orpington · 8.1 miles

Evidence of Roman domestic architecture can be examined at a museum-type archaeological site on the edge of Orpington, within the London Borough of Bromley. The remains belong to a villa that was occupied from roughly AD 140 until the end of the fourth century, forming the hub of a farming estate that covered about 500 acres of fields, meadows and woodland. At its peak the residence may have comprised no fewer than twenty rooms, although today the foundations of ten rooms are visible to the public. Among the preserved spaces are two with fragments of opus signinum flooring and three where tessellated, or tiled, surfaces have been identified. A portion of the underfloor heating system survives, displaying both channelled and pillared hypocaust arrangements, and assorted small artefacts have been recovered from the layers. The villa was first uncovered in 1926 when workmen preparing a driveway for new council offices stumbled upon Roman material. While initial investigations confirmed the site's existence, a comprehensive excavation was not undertaken until 1988 by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, with the results later published in 1996. The archaeological remains are now housed within a modern protective building. The museum is situated close to Orpington railway station, making it readily accessible by public transport. As a designated historic feature, the site is listed on OpenStreetMap and forms part of the local heritage trail that also includes the nearby Lullingstone Roman Villa in Kent.

The Tarn

Well Hall · 8.1 miles

A wooded lakeside site on the eastern side of Court Road, opposite Mottingham railway station, offers a mixture of open garden, water and protected wildlife. Covering nine acres in the Royal Borough of Greenwich (postcode SE9 5AQ), the area was once the southern part of the Great Park attached to Eltham Palace, used for royal deer hunting until the English Civil War. After the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich bought the land from the neighbouring Royal Blackheath Golf Club, the public garden opened in 1935 and has remained largely as laid out in the 1930s. The central part of the site surrounds a two-acre lake, historically called Starbuck’s Pond, and provides a circular walk that follows the shoreline, crosses a wooden footbridge and links the two gated entrances. Along the route visitors find a range of benches, a gazebo, a public-toilet block with a veranda shelter and an 18th-century brick ice well that is Grade II listed and viewable through a fenced opening. The park is wheelchair-accessible on most routes, although a few steps remain near the north-west and south-west entrances. Dogs are not permitted to protect the resident birds. Half of the nine-acre area is fenced off as a bird-sanctuary nature reserve, where species such as mallard, Canada goose, rose-ringed parakeet and swan are regularly observed, alongside foxes, squirrels, frogs and bats. The lake supports a small stickleback population and is fed by the Little Quaggy stream. Access is via Court Road; the nearest town is Well Hall, and entry is free.

Sayes Court Park

Hughesfield Estate · 8.1 miles

The area now known as Sayes Court Park lies on the Thames Path in Deptford, within the London Borough of Lewisham, and is closest to the Hughesfield Estate. The park occupies the ground that once held the manor house and celebrated garden created by the seventeenth-century diarist John Evelyn, although virtually no above-ground traces of the original layout survive beneath Convoys Wharf and the present parkland. Originally granted by William the Conqueror to Gilbert de Magminot, the manor passed through several hands, including Cardinal Wolsey and the Browne family, before being leased to Evelyn in 1663. Evelyn enlarged the house and laid out an influential garden featuring a walled herb section, an arbour beneath elms, a formal box parterre, a grove of assorted trees, extensive kitchen gardens, an orchard of three hundred fruit trees, and a promenade leading to an ornamental lake. The estate later served as a workhouse, a penal transportation depot and a factory before the Admiralty acquired it in 1856. In the nineteenth century, a descendant of Evelyn repurchased part of the site, and the area eventually became the public park that exists today, recognised as a key factor in the formation of the National Trust. Visitors can reach the park on foot via the Thames Path and from the nearby Hughesfield Estate. As a public open space, the site does not list an admission charge, and no specific visitor facilities are recorded in the available data. The park offers a green setting that hints at its layered past while providing a riverside walk for local residents and visitors alike.

The Cinema Museum

Kennington · 8.1 miles

Building name is The Lambeth Workhouse. Constructed in 1873. The building was eventually turned into a hospital. The workhouse's former master's house and chapel are now occupied by the Cinema Museum which is a grade II listed building.

Eel Brook Common

Walham Green · 8.1 miles

Eel Brook Common is common land in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, close to Fulham Broadway, with its south-eastern boundary along New King's Road. According to the Fulham Society, the name actually is a derivative of 'hill brook common' - which relates to Musgrave Crescent, which is raised much higher than the surrounding land. It is believed that this is artificial and it probably was originally a Bronze Age mound - either a raised piece of ground to defend against attackers, or as a burial mound. When you leave Eel Brook Common from the north side, you go up a steep ramp - up onto Musgrave Crescent. It is within the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservation Area of Parsons Green.

London Fire Brigade Pop-up Museum

Lambeth · 8.1 miles

A collection of more than 20,000 objects, ranging from leather fire hoses to fine-art paintings, records the development of firefighting in London since the Great Fire of 1666. The items were formerly displayed in Winchester House, the former residence of Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, who served as Superintendent of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. Winchester House functioned as the London Fire Brigade headquarters until 1937, when King George VI inaugurated a new building on the Albert Embankment on the south bank of the Thames. The museum closed to the public in September 2015, after which the artefacts were audited and placed in storage while plans for a dedicated new museum were pursued. In July 2015 the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority attached the provision of a new museum and an accompanying fire station to the sale and redevelopment of the old Albert Embankment headquarters in Lambeth. Although an opening was originally projected for 2023, the museum remained closed in 2025 and the entire collection is now accessible only in digital form. Temporary exhibitions, outreach visits and educational events have been used to present parts of the collection across London, and the institution continues to commemorate milestones such as the 150th anniversary of the brigade. The site is currently listed on OpenStreetMap as the London Fire Brigade Pop-up Museum, classified as a museum with Lambeth recorded as the nearest town. Wheelchair access is limited and opening times are published on the listing, though no further visitor facilities are described.