7 Surprising Things You Probably Didn't Know You Can Do In London

Laura Reynolds
By Laura Reynolds Last edited 8 months ago
7 Surprising Things You Probably Didn't Know You Can Do In London
Visit a vineyard. Photo: Forty Hall Vineyard

So you think you've done everything London has to offer. Perhaps you've even danced on a clown's grave, visited a tropical conservatory in the City and slept at the zoo. Either way, you'd think you would need to travel further afield for new experiences — experiences like visiting a vineyard, swimming with sharks and seeing the Berlin Wall. Not so; read on.

1. Visit a vineyard in London

Photo: Forty Hall Vineyard

The changing climate means that more vineyards are taking root across south-east England — but did you know that London has its own vineyard?

Located in the northern part of the capital, in the borough of Enfield, the 10-acre Forty Hall Vineyard is the capital's first commercial scale vineyard since the middle ages. It functions as a social enterprise, and is largely looked after by local volunteers. The grapes grown here are sent to winemaker extraordinaire Will Davenport in Sussex, who works the magic and makes the wine (which is available in an impressive number of venues across London and beyond).

As for visiting the vineyard, that's possible via regular tours and wine tasting events during the summer months, or you can visit on a self-guided tour on days when Forty Hall Farm is open to the public.

Forty Hall Vineyard, Forty Hall Farm, Forty Hall, Enfield, EN2 9HA

Though Forty Hall's wines aren't actually made in London, others are. London Cru's been making wine in SW6 since 2013, though it sources its grapes from elsewhere in England

2. See seven counties from one point (and it's not from The Shard)

You can't see seven counties in this one image. Photo: Severndroog Castle

London is directly bordered by five counties (Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex), with several others within easy travelling distance. But there's one place where we have it on good authority that you can see SEVEN different counties on a clear day. You're probably think The Shard, but you're wrong — it's south east London's little-known folly, Severndroog Castle.

On a clear day, volunteers told us when we visited in 2015, you can see seven counties from the viewing platform at the top; Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Essex and Berkshire. Of course, that total depends whether you consider Middlesex to still exist as a county — but either way, six or seven counties from one viewpoint is an impressive total. We caveat this claim with the fact that it's never been a clear day when we've visited, so we've never been able to spot far-flung landmarks such as Windsor Castle.

Severndroog Castle, Castle Wood, Shooters Hill, SE18 3RT

3. See a piece of the Berlin Wall

a slab of the berlin wall with 'change your life' written on it
Photo by Matt Brown.

Though the Berlin Wall largely fell in 1989, parts of it are still standing in the German capital today. But while Germany might be the best place to see it in its original context, parts of the wall have made their way to London, and can be seen at locations including the gardens of the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. Find out more here.

4. Go snorkelling with sharks

We had a go

We once had a friend — a fully-functioning adult — who believed the London Aquarium's sharks swam in a special pen in the Thames, outside the attraction. We hope we don't have to tell you there's no truth in this, and that you'll be in cleaner waters inside the aquarium itself, should you choose to swim with the aquarium's toothy fish.

That's one of the VIP experiences available at Sealife London (due to restart soon, following a pause during the pandemic). It's snorkelling rather than full-on diving/swimming, and there are no great whites, but you're immersed in the aquatic home of sand tiger sharks, blacktip sharks, nurse sharks and bowmouth guitarfish. Up to three people can take part at once, inside a cage of perspex bars. Here's what happened when we gave it a go in 2019.

5. Venture into 22 miles of caves where ammunition was stored

Photo: Londonist

Think caves and you're probably thinking Cheddar Gorge or Wookey Hole, but there are many caves and subterranean grottos much closer to the capital — including 22 miles of manmade caves buried under the streets of south east London.

Chislehurst Caves are manmade tunnels, originally used as flint and chalk mines. Since then, they've been used: to store ammunitions from Woolwich Arsenal during the first world war; as a bomb shelter for 15,000 people during the second world war; as a gig venue for Jimi Hendrix; as a filming location for Doctor Who.

The caves are very much open to the public; you can only visit as part of a guided tour, but these run multiple times a day when the caves are open. Pick up a lantern and follow your guide for a potted history of the subterranean tunnels.

Chislehurst Caves, Old Hill, Chislehurst, BR7 5NL

6. Visit a camera obscura (right by Oxford Street)

Photo: Royal Museums Greenwich

If you've ever done a spot of touristing in Edinburgh, especially with kids in tow, chances are you visited the city's famous camera obscura, a clever bit of kit which projects a view from the city beyond onto a table in a darkened room.

But did you know that London has its own camera obscura — two actually — including one right next to Oxford Street?

The Royal Observatory's camera obscura is located in a small building in the courtyard, and offers people inside the building a live view of Greenwich and the River Thames.

The Photographer's Gallery in central London has its own camera obscura (still closed at present, but we hope to see it reopen soon). Located on the third floor, it offers a 360 degree view from Great Marlborough Street, along Ramilles Street, over to Oxford Street and the sky.

7. Experience an earthquake (safely)

Photo: Natural History Museum

Thankfully, London's fairly quiet on the seismic activity front — our nearest volcano is around 1,000 miles away, and though London had a couple of historic earthquakes, tremors these days are rare, tiny, and usually centred outside of the city itself.

But you can still get an idea of what it's like when an earthquake strikes, at Natural History Museum's earthquake simulator. Located in the museum's Volcanoes and Earthquakes gallery, it recreates the physical experience of being in supermarket aisle during the disastrous 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, which hit 7.3 on the Richter scale.

The floor shakes, lights flicker on and off, trolleys roll up and down, and products wobble and fall on the shelves. (Around 6,000 people died in the Kobe earthquake, and the Natural History Museum simulator is intended to be educational rather than entertainment).


Looking for more things to do? Check out our guide to 51 weird things to do in London and 102 free things to do in London, and, a bit further afield, 19 fantastically quirky museums to visit near London.

Last Updated 19 July 2023

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