My Cultural Life - London

Dennis Severs' house is an experience not to be missed, says Katie Burningham.

"My introduction to the house at 18 Folgate Street had an air of mystery about it. The house administrator, Mick Pedroli, was waiting outside the front door with a candle burning behind him.  He ticked my name off on his list and said enigmatically, “you either see it or you don’t”. Then he opened the door..."

'The month is December of 2005, although I can’t quite remember the actual date. I am in the Crypt of St. Martins in the Fields and opposite is a man who has just told me that he wants to commit suicide...' Matthew Turtle gets up-to-date on the renewal of London's most treasured parish church.

'When I first read reviews of Postcard Teas, I relished the prospect of sampling tea at Tim D’Offay’s shop since the tea came highly recommended, but I never imagined that the experience in itself would be so enjoyable'. Shamini Sriskandarajah visits one of London's tea havens.

'Thank God for whoever it was who decided to open up the piazza in front of the Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Westminster, revealing an exotic scene of domes and towers and cupulas. If you feel that you have stumbled into a corner of the Eastern Christian world, you might be forgiven, for Westminster Cathedral was designed in the Byzantine style by John Francis Bentley'.

On a sultry London afternoon, descending into an underground space that is cold, dank, dirty, and full of dead bodies, is not the preferred activity on anyone’s list.  But the Kensal Green Cemetery in west London is worth a visit, both as a slice of 19th century history and as an operating London cemetery. In fact, it’s not just a cemetery, it’s a cultural landscape.