The Tower of London.

Steeped in the nations history for a thousand years, the Tower of London is one of the world's premier tourist destinations. It can be very busy on some summer days but if you pick your day and time to go it can be a brilliant place to visit.

The Crown Jewels can be the most busy place with the queue snaking its way around the courtyard but don't be put off by that there are plenty of other places to go and you can come back to the Crown Jewels, once inside the chamber there are travellators (moving pavements)on each side of the glass cases so if you want to study these you have to go along a few times. There is a fixed platform at the back to stop and stare with some picture boards to know what you're looking at. There were two copy sets of the Jewels made during WWII just in case! and one copy was said to have been kept at Upnor castle in Kent and is one of the places we visit on our Elizabeth tour.

The centre piece of the White tower is the Henry VII exhibition and to see his armour astride a white charger is a jaw dropping moment when you walk into the room.

The scaffold site on tower green, the place where Anne Bolyen, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, Walter Raleigh and a few notable others were executed has an evocative scuplture and when you listen to the audio guide and hear actors speak the last words of the condemned it raises the hairs on the back of your neck.

The battlements walk is a must and it takes you through the medieval palace through the guard tower and places where other famous prisoners have been held and finally the old jewel tower.

There are many places to see and to wander round the inner walls of this famous place that will find something of interest for any body. They do say that the average British person vists the place three times in their lives, once as a child, once as a parent and once as a grandparent.

www.tudorhistorytours.com