Explore the history of the Bromley with guide to 5 historical days out.
Are you looking for a history packed adventure in Bromley with a senior? Check out these interesting recommendations from our team.
In your senior years, it’s important to stay active and engaged, so we have put together 5 of our favourite days out that will satisfy the inner historian in you!
Conveniently situated right next to Orpington Train Station, Crofton Roman Villa is the only villa open to the public in Greater London. It was inhabited from about AD 140 to 400 and was the centre of a large farming estate. Today you can enjoy a short talk by a villa guide, replica Roman everyday objects such as pots, jewellery, lamps and writing tablets and a touch table with a selection of Roman finds from the evacuation. You’ll be able to enjoy seeing the remains 10 rooms protected inside a public viewing building. Remains include tiled (tessellated) floors and the under-floor heating system (hypocaust). It’s a special place and very unusual to find such a gem in the borough.
The Villa is managed on behalf of the London Borough of Bromley by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit.
Free to visit for English Heritage members, Downe House, the home of Charles Darwin is a popular tourist attraction for those interested in the history of science and evolution, and it’s beautiful and award-winning gardens makes this historic house an enjoyable day out for all.
Take a stroll down Darwin’s “Thinking Path” through the vegetable patches and blooming flower beds, with a beautiful country backdrop. Then head inside and soak up the atmosphere in the actual room in which Darwin wrote “On the origin of the Species” whilst enjoying an exhibition of his work.
End your visit on a high, with a seasonal meal at Down House Tearoom, located in the kitchen where in the mid-19th century, all the Darwin’s’ meals were prepared in the mid-19th century,
The venue is wheelchair accessible, and you can even hire one on site!
Top your adventurer’s hat on and journey 30 meters below the homes and woodlands of Chislehurst, to a maze of manmade tunnels inside Chislehurst Caves!
The caves have been open since the 1900’s, showcasing the history filled full of Romans, druids and Saxons to the Victorians. In the 1940’s the caves became an underground town, as the largest deep air raid shelter outside of London. Over 1500 people would seek shelter there every night during the blitz.
During the 1960s, the caves were used as a music venue and many notable artists played there, including David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, to name a few!
You can now tour the caves and learn more about its eccentric history, they even have a café rest weary feet after an exciting visit!
Beckenham Place Park covers 98 hectares, full of beautiful walks through its ancient woodland. It is the largest greenspace in the borough. Additionally, it is home to the Mansion, a stunning house built in the 1700’s as a gentleman’s seat in Beckenham, intended as a pleasant retreat from the busy London lifestyle.
The Mansion at Beckenham Place Park is now open to the public as an art, cultural and community center. It is certainly worth checking out the events page on the website. From Yoga to Vintage Markets, there is something for everyone. And all in a beautiful historic setting.
Slightly further in to London, you can discover the eccentric history of Eltham Palace. Set in 19 acres of stunning, award-winning gardens, Eltham Palace provides an interesting mix of medieval and modern. Once a popular homestead for the Tudors, it was transformed into an art-deco mansion in the 1930’s by eccentric millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld.
Relax in the beautiful glasshouse café overlooking the playground, head underground and explore the basement which was used as a bomb shelter during the blitz and check out the heated home of the famous Eltham Palace Lamar, Mah-Jong. There really is something for everyone.
Find out more about supported living in this area and see if Home Instead Bromley, Chislehurst and Orpington could be right for your loved ones.