East London shop where you can find nice pieces from independent artists, nice presents or home decoration.

Free natural ponds, open all year round (check online for varying opening hours according to seasons). Get an absolute get away feeling right in the heart of London, a treat if you enjoy swimming with ducks. Amazing park to enjoy a few games of cards and a walk around afterward too...

In terms of materials and form, these galleries offer so much. On an abstract and typographic level, so useful. This is a section of an altar frieze, from the Eye Temple at Tell Brak (N.E. Syria), dated 3300–3000BC. The Egyptian rooms take the tourist weight; these spaces are much quieter and amenable time spent drawing and thinking.

The V and A houses a public collection of prints and drawings of every kind imagineable from old master drawings to photographs, playing cards, fashion plates and wallpapers. You have to select what you want to see from the collection http://collections.vam.ac.uk/and book in advance. The behind-the-scenes route up to the study room of v and a is a treat alone (pictured)

Ever since discovering this area around 6 years ago I still find it a nice area to go for a walk. Beginning at Paddington Basin with a mix of modern architecture which is fantastic to wonder around. Following the canal you go past a few restaurants and underneath a section of the A40 Westway before arriving at Little Venice and beyond.