Greenwich more than just the home of the dome

The Royal Borough of Greenwich has loads to offer the concert enthusiast and, with good food and a large dose of history for good measure.

On a recent trip to see Dolly Parton at the O2 Arena I was lucky enough to find myself in one of the hundreds of thousands homes available through HouseTrip.

I stayed in a superb 17th floor two-bedroom executive apartment right on the Thames a five-minute walk from the O2. The apartment was spotless and from the balcony, the views were extraordinary.

For as little at £121 a night in an apartment that sleeps up to 6 people, the price is just right.

Besides being an amazing concert venue, the O2 also offers an 11-screen Cineworld cinema which has a SKY Superscreen, a massive nightclub over three floors and a Brooklyn Bowl, plus a whole lot more.

The newest experience is “Up at the O2” where you can actually walk across the top of the dome. The views from the top must be amazing.

Brooklyn Bowl has 12 lanes of ten pin bowling where you can have a huge selection of American grub, from catfish to Southern Fried Chicken, served on the lane. BBQ smoked ribs were my downfall with a frozen margarita cocktail and my attention was firmly diverted from the bowling to come in fourth of a group of six. Hardly surprising after a second helping of ribs!

Soon, it was show time. Dolly took the stage and, with a gig that mirrored her recent stint at Glastonbury, the crowd was on its feet for most of the show! Jolene kicked off the proceedings and as she took us on a tour through her Smokey mountain roots with some classics and a whole lot of new material the crowd applauded louder with every song. A surprise guest star, Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, had people yelling for more. Dolly rounded off an amazing concert with an encore of 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You. An epic performance from an epic performer.

Staying with HouseTrip meant that after the show, while the queues for the Underground were around the corner, I sauntered back to my apartment and was relaxing on the balcony less than 10 minutes after leaving my seat in the Arena.

The next morning, I had the pleasure of being escorted on a walking tour around the Royal Borough’s historic sites. My guide was the lovely Margaret from Visit Greenwich whose knowledge of the Old Royal Naval College, The Painted Hall, The National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House was put to the test by many of my random questions. Admirably, Margaret answered every question with interesting facts and little-known gems that brought the tour to life.

I would highly recommend a walking tour of any city with a World Heritage Site as the history comes to life through the telling of these expert Yeoman tour guides.

For lunch, Margaret walked the group to the bustling Greenwich Market that, Thursday to Sunday, has craft stalls and a huge selection of world cuisine to delight the tastebuds of any traveller. From home baking and artisan breads to falafel and smoking sticky BBQ pulled pork butties, I would have quite happily gorged on paella and red velvet cake for the rest of the day, but the tour continued on, only coming to an end when I was deposited beside the world famous Clydebuilt Cutty Sark.

The Cutty Sark Heritage Centre allows visitors to tour the ship and see what conditions the sailors at the time would have had to endure. Lovingly restored, the ship now sits in its bespoke display, which allows visitors to walk through and even underneath this historical gem.

If, by the end of a day spent walking through history I was feeling a little peckish, you would forgive me after a climb to the Greenwich Observatory.

In the same building as the Greenwich Picture House sits the Rivington Grill. Advocating the sourcing of high quality ingredients from local suppliers the style and design of the Rivington Grill reflects the simple high quality British dishes on offer. The well informed staff can recommend a drink to complement your meal and the cosy atmosphere of a true neighbourhood restaurant will mean you never want to leave.

Sadly, my trip to Greenwich ended there, although I could happily have spent another few days exploring this almost forgotten part of London.

For more information see visitgreenwich.org.uk HouseTrip.com offers holidaymakers and holiday homeowners a safe and easy-to-use platform to find, book and list apartments, houses and villas securely online. There are currently more than 320,000 homes to choose from in more than 20,000 destinations worldwide. Every one is screened by a team of experts. So, with a HouseTrip property, you can get a whole home for less than the price of a single hotel room and each comes with a kitchen and private bathroom offering value-for-money and the freedom to holiday without compromise.