Fulham Palace

Things To Do

Jason Allen 22/01/25


Fulham: Your Full Day Explorer's Itinerary

Fulham all too often gets dismissed as just being diet Chelsea, but the fact is that this riverside enclave has perfected the art of quiet charm – equal parts eclectic shops, low-key pubs, and cozy restaurants, it also happens to boast some of the most underrated green space in the city.

The upshot? It’s the perfect place for a great little day of exploration. We’ll start, if you can believe it, at Fulham Broadway station…

MORNING

If you’re here on one of the six days of the week that the good lord gave us that it’s open (ie not Sunday) then you need to make an immediate beeline for the North End Road market. And even if it IS a Sunday, your ultimate destination here is Lytte, a coffee shop that will supply you with a cup of the good stuff and a pastry to soak it up.

Caffeine in hand, you can then make your way down the market, and have a pleasantly aimless browse. The great thing about the North End Road Market is that it has all the incredible legacy (it’s been around since the 1880s) and the quirky traders you find at Portobello or Borough, there just aren’t hordes of tourists to go with it all. It’s here that we’re going to assemble our lunch, in a picnic plucked from the various traders. There’s a huge assortment of stuff here from every continent, so you should be able to find something you like.

london cru wine tastings

Bric-a-brac & picnic in hand, you can then swing around to the north for a two minute hop and a skip up to London Cru, if it’s a weekday. This is London’s first urban winery. And yes, it’s a little early in the day to be sampling the wares (they do open at 9am though) but nevertheless this is a fascinating place, and you won’t find anything else like it in this part of town.

Now, we’re going to head down south – this may require either a bus, or a yellow Yo-Go electric buggy – because we need to find a suitably serene place to eat that picnic.

LUNCH

Jumping off at the river, we’re now at Bishop’s Park. It’s a genuinely lovely little slice of the capital, sitting on the banks of the river, and filled with wildflowers, fountains, a sculpture garden, and indeed designated picnic areas. It’s idyllic. After eating, you can have a stroll by the Thames and watch rowers gliding by while fantasising about owning one of the riverside mansions.

Whatever you do, just make sure to end up by Fulham Palace. Here, you can bask in the luxury of being able to wander around a stunning regal residence with a 13-acre botanical garden and a history stretching back 6,000 years. For free. This is, and was, the official residence of the Bishop of London since the 11th century, and it shows. You could honestly spend all day here, but we have a lot more to do, so buckle up.

AFTERNOON

white horse

Next, we’re going to make our way up to Parson’s Green for a stop off in The Sloney Poney (or ‘the White Horse‘ to anyone not from Fulham). This pub has become a West London institution over the years. Why? Well, for one, when you go there it almost feels like you’ve stepped out of the city for a moment. Sitting on the edge of Parson’s Green itself, on a cloudless day it almost seems like it’s just waiting for a village fete to spring up. Grab a pint, and soak up the vibes.

There’s some excellent boutique shopping to be done in this part of the world, too. Of particular note are Indian Summer (stuffed to the brim with eclectic housewares and beautiful clothing) and Hemels (stuffed to the brim with eclectic housewares and beautiful clothing).

EVENING

After that, we’re rebounding back towards the Broadway, only this time we’re in the mood for dinner. To fill that gap, there’s one standout place that can’t be ignored: The Harwood Arms. It’s famously London’s only Michelin Starred pub, and it’s always worth checking out. Expect to enjoy fantastically British dishes like deer with beetroot, blackcurrant and smoked bone marrow; coronation quail salad with apricot and almond; and whipped chicken livers with thyme hobnobs and onion jam. Yes, hobnobs. If that’s too much for a casual day out, then you might want to head to the more wallet-friendly Santa Maria pizzeria, or get some excellent Korean food from Simya.

Now we come to the liquid portion of the day. Grabbing a drink at one of the area’s primo bars, you can opt for Cobalto (a lovely low-tech wine bar), Vagabond (a lovely high-tech wine bar), or Kona Kai, which is a good ol’ fashioned tiki bar. Any of them is a good call.

606 Club chelsea jazz bar London

And to finish off the evening, whisk yourselves back to the riverside and drop into the 606 Club, AKA ‘the six’. Found down an old industrial alley, behind an almost unmarked gate and down a dimly lit flight of stairs, it’s the quintessential musicians’ bolt-hole: a candlelit cavern where world-class jazz bands and singers play within spitting distance of the front row. And it’s thoroughly reasonably priced, too.

Suck on that, Chelsea.

 


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