A friend was due to be in London and available for a catch-up, and I had a vague plan to visit the Fashion and Textile Museum for the Paint! Pattern! Print! exhibition, so I decided to combine the two. I wanted to make the most of my time, and I didn’t know much about the area around the museum, so I asked Claude to devise me a plan based on things I generally like: bookshops, stationery shops, crafts, galleries, parks. And I knew I’d need a sit down with a drink at some point.

After a trip to a gorgeous little bookshop I headed off to Southwark Cathedral, an oasis of calm in the hustle and bustle of Borough Market. I loved the Diamond Jubilee Window, designed and made by Icelandic artist Leifur Breidfjord.

Tall stained glass window in abstract geometric shapes of blue, green, yellow and red

It was the sparkling jewels dotted through the glass that caught my eye first, and only then did I take in the rest of the colours and the general beauty of the piece, much brighter and clearer than some of the more traditional windows nearby.

I also felt fortunate to catch the photography exhibition of Peter Marlow’s work photographing all 42 cathedrals of the Church of England. I enjoyed comparing the cathedrals side-by-side. All buildings with the same purpose but with different styles and materials on show. A lovely way to appreciate the elements that are the same, and those that are different.

Row of framed cathedral photographs displayed on wooden stands along a stone cloister wall

My next main stop was the Fashion and Textile Museum with the exhibition I’d come to see.

Not far from there is the London Glassblowing studio, which is currently showing a retrospective show of Peter Layton’s work.

I loved both the colours and shape of this piece, and the shadow it casts.

Glass bowl with a spiralling multicoloured stripe pattern, casting a rainbow-edged shadow

I saw these as penguins from the moment I spotted them, and was pleased to find that I was right. This piece called Birds by Bruce Marks.

Two tall grey glass vessels with pointed orange-lined openings, resembling penguin beaks

This piece by Colin Reid seemed incredible. These artists really know how to handle glass!

Ring-shaped glass sculpture with textured, feathered surface in grey, black and fiery orange

After a quick browse of the books in Morocco Bound, I needed a coffee and a sit down, so headed to WatchHouse, a wonderfully reworked building turned into a calm and sophisticated coffee shop. There’s a lovely black and white photograph of the building on their wall, and on their about page, showing what it used to look like. I didn’t know what a watch house was, so I looked it up:

It was essentially the headquarters for the beadles and very similar ‘headboroughs’ who formed the Parish Watch

The Parish Watch was then mainly concered with keeping the peace, arresting lawbreakers, ensuring that the nightly curfew was observed etc.

Next stop for me was the White Cube gallery, another place I’d never been, nor even known about. Impressive space, so very tall, with artwork to match. The art wasn’t necessarily to my taste, but I could totally appreciate the scale.

Large gold-splattered abstract paintings on dark canvases in a tall white gallery space, with a visitor for scale

Three large paintings of inverted figures on gold backgrounds hung in a gallery room

Finally, I walked towards Tate Modern to meet my friend, and enjoyed this mural, “London Cityscape” by James Cochran, glowing in the sunshine.

Mural painted on a brick wall showing a pointillist view of the London skyline at sunset, with the Shard prominent

All in all, Claude did a good tour, introducing me to new places I doubt I’d have found alone, all independent, all within a mile of each other, all at a chilled pace. I’ll experiment with using Claude as a tour guide again.