Lambeth

Located west of Southwark, Lambeth is a large borough covering a lot of South London - I’m sticking close to the river here, around Waterloo and St Thomas’ Hospital.

Similar to its neighbours the area was developed in the early 19th Century with the arrival of the railways and the brick vaults under Waterloo are still a defining feature of the area. Leake Street, running through through the vaults, has an amazing collection of street art.

Lambeth has always been predominantly a working class area, and still today it is less touristy and more lived-in than many of the other areas I feature.

Nevertheless I enjoyed my day out exploring what it has to offer, even if - as you can see - the completely perfect weather played a pretty significant role.

Imperial War Museum

Housed in the former Bethlem Royal Hospital, the Imperial War Museum covers 20th Century conflict involving the UK, having been founded to commemorate World War 1 in 1917.

The name may sound worrying but this is no jingoistic celebration of past glories. The first exhibit you’ll see is the remains of a civilian car destroyed in Baghdad. It stopped me in my tracks and does much to set the tone.

There are large galleries dedicated to both World Wars which are dense and sensitively curated. The surprise to me though was how terrifyingly current the cold war gallery feels.

I ended my visit at the Holocaust Galleries. I’d definitely go there last, however mentally prepared you might feel. The horror of it all extinguished any desire to see anything else.