Happy New Year to you all!

Christmas seems a lifetime ago, doesn't it? How are your new year resolutions coming along? Have you been to the gym? Have you refrained from the alcohol? Don't worry, I don't tell anyone if you haven't!

Whatever resolutions you break, the one to keep, is getting out in London with your phone, having a wander and taking some great photos. Luckily, we've got just the walks for you!

From our first Southbank photowalk that we introduced last year, we've now add...

Halfway through December and the days are short and the nights are long. Perfect! For photography in London, we now get the best of both worlds, the light and the dark, without staying up really late!

Our smartphone photo walk along Southbank the other day showed what a great time if year this really is. Starting the tour at 3pm, we got some lovely photos of the area and the river and bridges. Then, as we stood photographing the view across the Thames towards St Paul's Cathedral, the ...

Learn how to take great photos with your smartphone with professional photographer Alastair Hilton.

During the photo walk, Alastair will set photography challenges, nurture your photographic eye and help you develop a better understanding of what makes a great photo. 

At the end of the 2 hour tour you will have gained a collection of photos you will feel proud of and having gained insight as to how to improve your smartphone photography. 

Our smartphone photo walks are external focu...

How to access Panoramic camera setting on your smartphone (Android or iPhone):

Press the camera icon on your phone. Next to the "shutter release button" (the white circle you press to take a photo) will be a list of options, including Square, Pano or Panorama, portrait, time lapse etc. Press the Pano/panorama option. Two parallel lines and an arrow will appear in the centre of the screen. 

Turn your phone horizontally. Stand the aisle of a church (for instance) and point the camera le...

350 years ago the Great Fire of London tore through the medieval streets of London, destroying 80% of the city in four days. 373 acres of the City - from the Tower in the East to Fleet Street and Fetter Lane in the West - and burning around 13,200 houses, 84 churches and 44 company halls.

Learn more about this major event, how the royals and the regulars dealt with this disaster as well as other historical events on our Heretics and Horrors walking tour.

London has a lot of many wondrous things such as pubs and theatres but what London seems to have more of is ghosts.

We have some fab Halloween themed walks available 27th, 29th & 31st October. Join us on this night walk and hear tales which will give you a chilling thrill! 

Tues 27th Oct, 7pm Baker Street  - Haunted Marylebone & Mayfair Book now

Thurs 29th Oct 7pm Baker Street  - Haunted Marylebone & Mayfair Book now

Sat 31st Oct, 3pm London Bridge - City of London Dragons Book now

Sat 31st Oct, 7...

St John Street, Islington, was originally a lane linking the village of Islington to the City of London.

When you look up St John Street (as in the pic above) you can see a slight incline. That's been made up of gravels from the ice age. Underneath that is London clay. Where the gravel and London clay meet there is a line of fresh water springs. 

Those springs are still evident in place names such as Sadler's Wells and Clerk's Wells, more commonly known as Clerkenwell today.

The geology has had ...

Many of Dickens’ contemporary critics and reading public feared that novels could be too realistic, and that naïve readers (often female readers) wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between fiction and reality. Especially for a novel like Oliver Twist, which is about “dangerous” subjects like poverty, crime, and the relationship between the two.

"Please sir, I want some more"

London is repeatedly described as a labyrinth or a maze – once you get into it, it’s hard to get back o...

11th Jan, we experience London through the eyes of Oliver Twist. Join us: http://t.co/SRHeeYS77q@footprintsldn pic.twitter.com/MbQ8GHoVSQ

— London Guided Walks (@Guided_Walks) January 4, 2015

London has a lot of many wondrous things such as pubs and theatres. What London seems to have even more of is ghosts. 

There are a number of different types of paranormal activity:

Demonic hauntings - a haunting by a nonhuman entity. They often start off with subtle and relatively simple paranormal activity before quickly increasing to strong, potentially scary activity. Demonic hauntings can be very dramatic, yes, even violent.

Cold Spots – a small, defined area of intense cold, at least 10 d...

Home to kings and queens since William the Conqueror, Windsor is dominated by its castle, which, as benefiting a monarch, is the largest in the kingdom.

 The trail starting in Egham takes you first to the calming waters of the Thames, where you can explore Runnymede, the site at which medieval barons forced a King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 which  lasted less than three months. Read more about the situation surrounding the Magna Carta.

"And still when mob or monarch lays,

Too rude a ha...

“London is a city that needs, that demands, to be explored on foot.”Geoff Nicholson, The Lost Art of Walking

The pace of London and its people moves so fast that the ability of being able to observe and absorb one’s surroundings certainly requires the speed of travel be slowed down. And what better speed to decrease down to than that of walking? It is a way of actually shifting a state of consciousness.

There are many nooks and crannies of London that cannot be seen and/or appreciated at ...

History of Mason's Yard, Mayfair

Ormond Yard was laid out as a 200 feet square plot of land originally designed to be a stable yard and by 1740 the yard was already being called Mason's Yard, probably due to the owner of the two houses fronting both the yard and Duke street was a Mr Henry Mason. It would make sense for him to have rented some stables in Mason's Yard.