Commissioned in 1898, and opening in 1901 the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill was built to house the collection of cultural artefacts, natural history, and various other curiosities amassed by the Victorian Tea magnate and public servant Fredrick John Horniman.

And there it sat collecting dust, until 1999 when a major redevelopment programme began turning the site into a centre dedicated to anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, housing 350,000 objects.

Reopening in 2002, the museum’s ethnology department has since won designated status, whilst the aquarium is famed for its unique and inventive design. The Horniman Museum contains the CUE (Centre for Understanding the Environment) building built as the archetypal green house, and there are acres of ornamental grounds, bandstands and fountains to wander through on a Sunday afternoon.