A relaxing day out in Covent Garden and Somerset House

I discovered something new about Covent Garden today, the South courtyard of the market building is apparently the only busking pitch in the world dedicated to classical music and opera.

I never knew that which is crazy as I am a Londoner and I’ve been here numerous times before yet I’ve never seen or heard them. This is a typical London disease – not being aware of how much is on our doorstep.

I found out this time quite by accident. We were looking for a place to have breakfast on Saturday morning and wandered down into the courtyard to see if there were any nice cafes.

We heard this haunting Opera music and assumed it was a radio playing only to emerge into the Courtyard to find a statuesque woman in a bright red evening gown bringing the house down – at 10.00 am in the morning.

She sang two beautiful songs to a tiny but very appreciative audience while a slender smartly dressed gentleman moved through the crowd collecting donations.

We decided to watch for a while and sat down at a window seat in an old Victorian-style wine bar and restaurant called the Crusting Pipe.

The restaurant, unfortunately, had a limited breakfast menu so we decided to just have a coffee and enjoy the show.

A few minutes later a lively quartet replaced the opera singer and put on a very energetic performance which we thoroughly enjoyed.

At around 10.45am we left the Crusting Pipe to find somewhere to have a hot breakfast. As we walked around the market building we spotted a busy Belgian restaurant called Le Pain Quotidien and went in for brunch. We had perfectly prepared scrambled eggs and the longest whole wheat slice of toast I’ve ever seen. It was very tasty with butter and marmalade.

Somerset House

Moving on, we walked by the London Transport Museum, another place I have yet to visit, and made our way on foot to Somerset House which was really the purpose of our day out. They had an exhibition called Landmark: the Fields of Photography which I had been meaning to see for a while.

We had intended to take a guided tour to kick off the visit but one of the tour guides was ill so they had a reduced number of tours which were already full. We were, however, encouraged to take an independent tour which turned out to be more fun. We discovered this stairwell as we explored which is breathtaking.

The exhibition was OK. We weren’t blown away by the pieces but some were captivating. The meandering river of lava and the contrasting glacial mountains were a particular highlight for me.

It started raining heavily an hour after we arrived so we got to spend some time in Somerset House’s wonderful little tea shop and have some delicious slices of lemon cake. When it became clear that the rain wasn’t about to let up we headed out with our well-used umbrellas.

I had fallen completely in love with Somerset House and will be making a return trip in the summer. It will have to be on a hot and clear day so I can enjoy the outside attractions like the water fountain in the courtyard and the riverside wine bar.

Twinnings tea shop

At around 4.00 pm we made our soggy way along the Strand to the Twinnings Tea shop. Over a welcome sample of hot tea, we listened to the captivating history of this amazing little shop and historic company, before reluctantly making our way towards the tube station and home.