The Tower has been in my family history since the ...

The Tower has been in my family history since the early 1400s, my grandfathers were constables at the tower, one grandfather was beheaded there in 1547 and my 2nd cousins Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard also met the same fate.

The chance to visit doesn't present itself often due to commitments, however, yesterday was such a day. I'd been chatting with the governor and the curator recently and I seized the moment of opportunity to visit.

We parked the car in the Tower Hill Coach and Car-Park just a few minutes walk to the Tower, there were no queues as one might usually expect, as due to COVID-19 you have to pre-book with a time-slot. Well, we arrived 15 minutes early and were let straight in. There was a small bag search on the way in but everyone was socially distanced.

Once inside there were no Yeoman warders giving guided tours of course, which is fully understandable, but due to a lack of visitors there was also no "crush" to see elements of the tower and we could, at leisure make our way around the tower soaking up the history. At certain points, there were Yeoman warders who were more than happy to chat about history and we learnt quite a few new things yesterday. A special mention to Yeoman Warder Briggs and Yeoman Sergeant Fuller who were very helpful indeed.

The crown jewels are usually heaving, queued for ages, but we were able to just walk on in, and linger to view at our leisure, even go up and down the travelator a few times.

Accessibility wise, I took my mobility scooter and it was a nightmare on the cobbled streets, a real bone-shaker, but doable. The Disabled toilets behind the jewel house were spotless and worthy of a 5* alone. We couldn't go in the white tower due to mobility issues, but it didn't make for any less an enjoyable visit.

If you want to visit.... now is the time to do so