Cromwell Road. South Kensington, SW7.
The Natural History Museum is home to life and earth science collections comprising some 70 million items. There are five main collections: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology.
It has long been a favourite with children, with its exciting collection of Dinosaurs and Creepy Crawlies and treasures from the natural world. There is also a wildlife garden containing native fauna and flora but its the dinosaur skeletons, particularly the large Diplodocus cast which never fails to fascinate the visitor.
The foundation of the collection was a bequest by Irish doctor Sir Hans Sloane (1660�1753). Sloane's collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was initially housed in Montague House in Bloomsbury in 1756, which was the home of the British Museum.
The museum which is housed in one of London's finest buildings includes images of plants, animals and fossils in the exterior brickwork.
The Darwin Centre is home to Archie the squid, an 8 metre long giant squid taken alive in a fishing net near the Falkland Islands. The squid is currently on display in a prominent position in the large specimen room, in a reinforced glass tank .
Admission free.
Open: Mon-Sat 10.00-17.50, Sun 11.00-17.50
Tube: South Kensington � there is a tunnel from the station that emerges close to the entrances of the museum.
