Charlton House and Gardens

Where in London can you find mermaids, meet the gods Venus and Vulcan, participate in a fesitval of debauched madness, be inspired to eat more healthily and enjoy the capital's poshest loo?

- JOHN DARLINGTON

A strange pub quiz question, perhaps, but the answer is Charlton House.

Often overlooked - except by locals - this is a place rich in history. The house, arguably the most impressive early Jacobean mansion in the city, was completed in 1612 for Sir Adam Newton, a Scottish courtier to James VI, who came down to London when James VI of Scotland was crowned James I of England.

Newton was tutor to Prince Henry, James's son, playing a critical role in nurturing the young prince who would become king but for his untimely death in the same year that the house was completed. Such important royal patronage required a prestigious building, so Newton commissioned an innovative design that set his home apart from the old-fashioned traditions of his Tudor neighbours. Nobody knows the architect, but it's thought it could have been John Thorpe, who designed Holland House in Kensington among others. Or perhaps Newton might have designed it himself.

A long gallery for exercise and to display oil paintings of the relatives, a magnificent oak staircase, a hall, private saloon and plenty of grand bedrooms make up the statement building, but it is the ornate plasterwork and gorgeous fireplaces where Newton truly went to town. The finest room in the house is the second-floor saloon, which is dominated by a huge fireplace flanked by near life-sized statues of Vulcan and Venus. These are exquisitely carved in alabaster, most likely by the King's master mason Nicholas Stone.