I've been to London many, many times, in fact I lived there for a year whilst teacher training, but I never got around to going to the Tower itself. I don't know quite why that is, as history is incredibly interesting and of course, the Tower played a huge part in the life of London and shaped the history of the UK in many ways.

The Tower is easily accessed from all areas of London, but by far the easiest way is to get to Tower Hill tube station, or get across from Tower Bridge. I would heartily suggest trying to pick a decent day to go to the tower (if that is possible in London!), because quite a large part of your visit will be outside and you will be exposed to the elements for a large part of your trip.

It costs around £17 to get into the Tower, which I suppose was a little expensive. Saying that though, there were quite a few other things in the capital which were much more expensive and much less important (Ripley's Museum in Piccadilly was around £27), but then there is much to see at the Tower so it really isn't too bad I suppose.

There are many different parts to the Tower itself and a large part of the Tower is open to the public. As we walked in we joined a tour led by a Beefeater, who was able to talk through quite a number of stories about the tower itself, firstly he began by going through stories about 'Traitor's Gate', a large gate that led prisoners into the Tower from the Thames. We then saw the nicely titled 'Bloody Tower' where the two young princes were allegedly murdered by then King Richard the Third.

The tour was well worth doing and didn't cost any more money. If you wanted to go around the Tower with an audio headset (which can sometimes be very interesting) it would cost you another four pounds. The Beefeater was very accommodating and interesting and talked us through several stories to do with the tower and it was interesting to see where the Beefeaters lived and the Ravens.

In the Beauchamp Tower you got to see some medieval graffiti in the form of carvings that inmates had done whilst waiting to go on the rack or get their head chopped off.

One of the main things that people go to the tower to see is the world famous Crown Jewels. To me, this was the least interesting part of the tour, although it seemed to be the most popular - having to queue to see them. They were just some crowns and jewels and stuff, not that interesting, but if you like that stuff then maybe you'll like it.

The main tower that dates from the eleventh century contained some interesting artefacts from the time of Henry the Eighth including his armour and horses armour.

The Tower of London was a very good afternoon's entertainment. To be in a place where so much history has taken place is quite amazing when you learn about what part it played in the history of England. I would have liked a little more time to look around in more detail, but the Tower was closing. If I were you, give yourself around three or four hours to look around the Tower in detail. A good afternoon's worth of entertainment.