DK Travel : London : Regent’s Park and Marylebone

North of Oxford Street and south of the park are the grand mansion blocks of Marylebone. Once a medieval village surrounded by fields and a pleasure garden, now it is a fashionable and elegant inner city area. In the 19th century, doctors started using these spacious houses to see wealthy clients. The medical connection continues today in the discreet Harley Street consulting rooms of private medical specialists. Madame Tussaud’s and the Planetarium in Marylebone Road may be less fashionable, but the queues outside testify to their popularity. Behind Marylebone Road, encircled by John Nash’s magnificent terraces, is Regent’s Park where the residents’ tranquillity is ruffled only by the muezzin calling from the London Central Mosque and the bellowing of elephants in London Zoo.

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Ask Pizza

A stylish pizza and pasta restaurant behind Oxford Street.
BBC Broadcasting House

Synonymous with the BBC, Broadcasting House has sailed majestically down Portland Place like a great liner since it was built in 1932. The expansion in radio and, later, television, meant that additional, larger premises were soon required, and now most broadcasting is done from other studios. New plans, however, aim to redevelop Broadcasting House as a new, modern centre for BBC Radio, the BBC World Service and BBC News.
Button Queen

A dazzling array of buttons, from antique silver to Art Deco pearl, are available in this charming shop.
Café Bagatelle

Located in the courtyard of the Wallace Collection, this wonderful restaurant serves delicious lunches. Choose from big salads, wild mushroom risotto and pistachio and chocolate crème brulée with shortbread.
Caffé Caldesi

This light and airy Italian eaterie offers classic dishes and a good wine list. The upstairs restaurant is slightly more formal.
Daunt’s

All kinds of travel books, including fiction, are arranged along oak galleries in this atmospheric Edwardian travel bookshop.
Debenhams

A middle-of-the-road department store that sells everything from tools to toys.
Divertimenti

This innovative London kitchen store has a huge variety of cooking implements, utensils and tableware. Open Sunday afternoons.
Exploring Marylebone

Morning

Before setting out for the day, reserve a ticket for MadameTussaud’s for the afternoon. Start at Bond Street Underground, exiting on Oxford Street. Opposite is St Christopher Place, a narrow lane with charming shops, which opens into an attractive pedestrian square. Stop for a coffee break at one of Sofra’s pavement tables.

Continue into Marylebone Lane, a pleasant side street of small shops, which leads to Marylebone High Street and its wide choice of designer shops, including The Conran Shop . Stop awhile in the peaceful memorial garden of St Marylebone Parish Church, planted with various exotic trees. Methodist minister and hymn-writer Charles Wesley (1707-88) has a memorial here

Afternoon

For lunch, the Orrery , beside The Conran Shop, is recommended. For a lighter snack, try Patisserie Valerie at 105 Marylebone High Street.

After lunch, bypass the legendary lines of people outside Madame Tussaud’sand spend an hour and a half checking out celebrity wax figures and the Planetarium.

Cross Marylebone Road to Baker Street, for tea and a sandwich at Reubens , before heading for the charming Sherlock Holmes Museumat No. 221b, a faithful reconstruction of the fictional detective’s home.
Giraffe

This bright restaurant serves light meals with an international flavour, everything from Thai to Mexican.

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Restaurant price categories

For a three course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal), taxes, and extra charges.
- under £15
- £15–£25
- £25–£35
- £35–£50
- over £50