A guide by sanfrancool
A secret walled garden beside the river in Chelsea. The second oldest botanic garden in the UK, it was founded by the Society of Apothecaries in 1673 and has been growing plants with medicinal uses ever since.
It's sheltered, sunny and dry enough to grow plants from the Canary Islands, Madeira and South Africa - and is a great place to escape from the fast pace of city living for an hour or two.
www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/
Note, it's only open to the public on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons
This is the best live music venue in Amsterdam. It used to be a church so the sound is always great. A good place to see new bands just after they've toured the UK.
Weteringschans 6-8
1017 SG Amsterdam
020 - 626 45 21
www.paradiso.nl
Wear warm clothes in the winter; it gets very cold. And get ready for lots of art!
Electronic music lovers visiting Amsterdam should definitely try and make it to an event at Club 11, which offers an underground warehouse vibe on the top floor of the modern art museum, with views overlooking the city.
Hire a pedalo for a different perspective of Amsterdam's canals - there are numerous stops along the canals, so it's a great way to get from one place to the next and much more fun than a tour boat!
a small cafe serving the best sandwiches and sweet treats in Amsterdam. It's run by an Australian and American, so it attracts lots of native English-speakers looking for a little taste of home.
Small World, Binnen Oranjestraat 14, Amsterdam; tel:31 (0) 20 420 27 74
Vegetarian restaurant near Museumplein, but a world away from the crowds. It serves cuisine themed from different parts of the world, which apparently changes every couple of weeks.
We had a lovely meal sat outside in the tree-lined street. Inside, the decor was fairly modern. Service was friendly and efficient.
My partner and I had a main, desert and wine for €60 and would definitely go again.
Only open between 17.00 and 21.30 and closed on Mondays. It's probably worth booking.
www.waaghals.nl/
29 Frans Halsstraat, 1072 BK Amsterdam
020 6799609
It's a favourite haunt. It does a really nice buffet with a good variety. Plenty of nice vegetables. Polite and pleasant staff. The 'meat' dishes look and taste authentic. We took some devoted-meat-eating friends there a few months back and bundled them in without their seeing the word 'vegan' on the outside. They didn't believe us when we confessed they'd just heartily enjoyed a vegan meal!! Great! A recommended evening would be to go there for the main and then over Soho Square to Soho Street and Govinda's for desert (very yummy!), though the latter closes at 8pm.
Old Compton Street, Soho.
Budget priced, filling and very good vegetarian food in the heart of town. On the menu is always a light option, a lunch option, a dinner special, soup, and quiche and a salad. The food is very healthy and wholefoody but you won't leave hungry. You could eat there all week and not get bored. Prices range from £3 to £6.50. It gets very busy, and is very cosy so be prepared to queue at times and especially to share a table. Also bear in mind that it's bad etiquette to reserve seats before getting your food! You can also do take-away.
31 Neal Street; Tube: Covent Garden or Leicester Square
This restaurant serves a wide selection of vegetarian Indian food. The food is Gujarati with African influences due to the time the family spent in Uganda. Absolutely beautiful food, try the kofta or the green banana curry, and the pani puri is amazing.
188 Upper Tooting Road, London, SW17 7EJ; tel: 020 8767 7027
Nearest tube: Tooting Broadway
A pool of water in the navel of Grasmere, Easedale Tarn is a place to sit by and gaze into. People tend to stand around, basking in the captured sunlight as they wait, perhaps, for a mail-clad hand to rise gloriously from the Tarn's centre and give the finger to anyone who owns a 4x4.
Travel up Easdale Road out of Grasmere and follow the signs.
Restaurant, cafe, jazz bar and cinema all rolled into one! Located in Ambleside, I have been visiting this place for over 20 years. In that time it’s gone through some changes but it still remains a wonderful place to go especially now with the addition of a jazz bar playing live jazz most Saturdays.
The restaurant and cafe are veggie but the kind of veggie that makes you want to convert! Cinema has four screens – two in the main building and two just down the road on the edge of the beautiful park. Go for the ‘movie deal’ (cinema ticket and meal) then afterwards listen to jazz for one of the best nights out in the Lakes!
Zeffirellis
Compston Road
Ambleside
LA22 9AD
www.zeffirellis.com
Tel: 015394 33845
Between the villages of Coniston and Hawkshead, this sculpture forest is home to more than 70 treasures hidden in the woodland. There are several walking/cycling routes which snake through the trees and allow for arty pit stops and beautiful views over Coniston Water.
Ulverston is where Cumbria begins. Located just outside the Lake District national park it's best known as the starting point of the Cumbrian Way hike, but in its own right is also a historic market town with more than enough to keep the visitor going for a couple of days.
There's an unexpected side to Ulverston too. Not just a throwback to the Industrial Revolution, it fancies itself as a centre of the arts and holds the most festivals of any town in England; it gave birth to one of the world's most famous characters - Stan Laurel; and is the base of an international religious sect.
Trains from Manchester or Barrow-in-Furness, or take the A590 from the M6
Tourist Office Tel: 01229 587120
ulverston.tourism@southlakeland.gov.uk
www.ulverston.net
Get up early and have the fells to yourself. There will be far more wildlife around (I saw two roe deer, three red squirrel, pheasants and rabbits in the woods overlooking Bassenthwaite this morning) and no one on the tops. I was running with my dog for more than an hour, through the woods and up on to Lord's Seat and Barf, and met no one until I returned to the car park at Spout Force and some Americans asked the way to the waterfall. Set your alarm, the earlier the better.
It may be only the second highest mountain in England but it has the best views! Fantastic walk from Glenridding or Patterdale via Striding Edge.
A four-day bus pass costs £21 - you can hop on and off buses over a wide area, walk from one valley and come down in another and generally avoid driving and finding parking spaces! The open top bus along Borrowdale is great fun!
Dwarfed by the surrounding views of Skiddaw, Helvellyn and Blencathra, Castlerigg still manages to maintain its dignity like an immobile Haley Joel Osmont against the awesome acting might of Bruce Willis. Despite its youth (just 5,000 years old on Monday), the stone circle is a place that just feels, well, wise. Get there early and ponder on the passage of people through time and you'll get an eerie feeling for the importance of this site. Get there late and you'll be jostling for photo opportunities with the Addams Family.
Just outside Keswick and along Castle Lane from the A591.
A bit slow, and a little pricey, the World Peace Cafe is still a must for the altruistic or the plain curious. Run by the Manjushri Buddhists from nearby Conishead Priory, from 11.30 to 2.30 it serves only organic, fair-trade vegetarian food (mains £5.00, sandwiches £4), cakes and a selection of teas from Earl Grey to Ayurvedic.
The cafe also offers evening sessions in its very own meditation room (cost £9.50) - there's even a lunchtime guided meditation (£4.50) followed by soup of the day...
5 Cavendish Street, Ulverston
01229 587793
www.worldpeacecafe.org
Friendly cafe in a converted woodmill in Staveley (between Kendal and Windermere). Good menu - I recommend the tasty veggie chilli and homemade cakes. There are also some tables outside, including some that overlook the river at the back.
Mill Yard, Staveley, LA8 9LR
01539 822329
www.wilfs-cafe.co.uk
Nearest station: Staveley
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