Date: Friday 4 October 2019, 10.30am

We will meet outside Shoreditch High Street Overground Station at 10.30 for a comfortable walk exploring the vibrant world of contemporary and street art in a tour led by an award-winning London Blue Badge Tour Guide, Gavin Webb.

The walk will introduce some of the best street art in the area and discuss different techniques and styles, as well as the area's historical background ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­and galleries. Find out why artists from across the globe flock to this particular area to make their mark. There will be a coffee break half way through. The tour will last for about 2-2.5 hours and will end at Spitalfields Market, where there are plenty of places for lunch.

Shoreditch High Street Overground is a direct train ride from Denmark Hill and Forest Hill, both of which have step-free access. Alternatively take Southern Rail from Tulse Hill, East or North Dulwich and change to the Overground at Peckham Rye.

The cost of this guided walk is £20 per person and bookings must be received by FRIDAY 30 AUGUST. Guests are welcome. Early booking recommended as numbers are limited to 12 people.

We need a minimum number for the walk to go ahead – hence the early booking cut-off date of 30 August. In the event that the walk is cancelled, your money will be refunded. Booking form below.

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Date: Monday 17 February 2020, 10.30am

MORNING: Our 10.30 visit includes a private tour of this Regency building at 42 Craven St, WC2, which includes a fine collection of art and furniture, and then The Optical Museum. The prestige rooms of the Optometrists' College include the Council Room, Panelled Room and Print Room, which contain many of the College's finest paintings, prints, furniture and items of decorative art. Afterwards we will visit the oldest optical museum in the world, where we will see the permanent exhibition highlighting the vast range of eclectic collections. It includes an assortment of anything related to eyes – Dr. Johnson’s spectacles, an eye of Horus, saints holding eyeballs, celebrity contact lenses, Elvis's sunglasses, the Queen Mother’s collection of glasses and anti-henpecking shades for chickens. There are two steps at the front door of the building and there are stairs up to the museum but there is a lift. There are toilets. The cost of this visit is £10 p.p.

AFTERNOON: After lunch at your leisure we will meet at 2pm at Benjamin Franklin House, 36 Craven Street, a few doors from the Optical Museum. Our visit includes a private guided historical and architectural tour of this five-storey Georgian townhouse, where according to The Guardian, Benjamin Franklin once sat stark naked by the first floor sash windows, 'air bathing' and thinking about bifocals, electricity, economics, American politics, British diplomacy and how to get the fire in his back room to draw better. Whether or not this is true, it is the only surviving former Franklin residence and dates from c.1730. Franklin lived and worked there for sixteen years. Please note there are many stairs in the house but no lift. There are toilets. The cost of this visit is £4 p.p.

Craven Street is just south of The Strand, London WC2, accessed via a pedestrian ramp adjacent to Charing Cross rail station. The nearest Tubes are Charing Cross (Northern/Bakerloo lines) or Embankment (District/Circle, Northern & Bakerloo lines). There are many places in the vicinity for lunch.

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Date: Tuesday 21 April 2020, 10.00am

Details and booking form to follow

Date: Friday 1 May 2020, 10.00am

Details and booking form to follow