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Designed by John Nash as a junction in Regent Street, the Circus is the endpoint of the street called Piccadilly. Its Eros statue – erected as a memorial to the Earl of Shaftesbury – is a familiar London landmark and a popular meeting place. Piccadilly Circus is also renowned for its neon advertising displays, which mark the entrance to the city’s entertainment district. On the south side of the Circus is the Criterion Theatre, next to Lillywhite’s – a leading sporting-goods store.

This delightful child-sized museum is a treasure-trove of historic toys. The shop below is crammed with old-fashioned playthings including Victorian toy theatre sheets, originally published by Benjamin Pollock.

Running through the centre of the decidedly fashionable Notting Hill, Portobello Road, with its extensive selection of antique shops, is a great place to spend some time. It is especially good on Saturday when the market is in full swing. This starts just beyond Westbourne Grove, with fruit and vegetables, bread, sausages, cheeses, then music, clothes and bric-à-brac. Beyond the railway bridge it becomes a flea market. Sit upstairs in the Café Grove (No. 253a) and watch it all go by, or quench your thirst in Fluid’s juice bar (13 Elgin Crescent). Ethnic food is otherwise what goes down best, and the West Indian flavour spills over into the vibrant music and colourful clothes stalls.

John Nash wanted the canal to go through the centre of his new Regent’s Park, but objections from neighbours, who were concerned about smelly canal boats and foul-mouthed crews, resulted in it being sited on the northern side of the park. In 1874, a cargo of explosives demolished the North Gate bridge beside London Zoo.

The best part of Regent’s Park lies within the Inner Circle. Here are Queen Mary’s Gardens, with beds and bowers of wonderfully fragrant roses, the Open Air Theatre with its summer Shakespeare productions and the popular Park Café –one of half a dozen cafés in the park. Rowing boats, tennis courts and deck chairs can be rented and in summer musical performances take place on the bandstand.

This attractive, wealthy riverside suburb, with its quaint shops and pubs and pretty lanes, is particularly worth a visit for its attractive riverside walks and its vast royal park. There is also a spacious Green, where cricket is played in summer, which is overlooked by the lovely restored Richmond Theatre and the early 18th-century Maids of Honour Row, which stands next to the last vestiges of an enormous Tudor Palace. For some history visit the local Museum, in the Old Town Hall, where the Tourist Information office is based.

Carving over entrance to remains of Richmond Palace

Restored façade of Richmond Theatre

Richmond alley

When Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for The Hall of Arts and Sciences, to everyone’s astonishment she put the wordsRoyalAlbertbefore its name, and today it is usually just referred to as the Albert Hall. It is a huge, nearly circular building, modelled on Roman amphitheatres, and seats 7,000. Circuses, boxing matches and all manner of musical entertainments are held here, notably the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts.

Royal Albert Hall

This former royal garden holds the world’s largest plant collection of around 30,000 specimens. Kew Palace and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage were used as residences by George III, whose mother, Princess Augusta, laid the first garden here. Take a Kew Explorer Bus tour of the gardens – you can get on and off it any time.

Queen Charlotte’s Cottage

London’s impressive premier music venue is home to both the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet Companies. The present Neo-Classical theatre was designed in 1858 by E M Barry and incorporated a portico frieze recovered from the previous building, which had been destroyed by fire. The Opera House has recently spread its wings into the lovely Floral Hall, once part of Covent Garden market and now housing a champagne bar.