If I am travelling, high on my list of things to see is a place of worship.  Soaring ceilings, beautiful paintings, a real sense of living history. But I have four children and I have never taken them to St Paul’s Cathedral or Westminster Abbey. 

ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL 

Daisy, aged 10, was commandeered to visit St Paul's. The final stone of the Wren masterpiece was laid 300 years ago last year and there has been a cleaning operation to celebrate the tri-centenary. The vista down to the Millenium Bridge with the Tate Modern beyond is a wonderful mix of old and new.  We took the excellent free children’s audio guide with us. Not that you need many prompts to ‘get’ it.

We both had a feeling of awe as we stood at the entrance to the nave and looked up the aisle. The enormous, seemingly weightless, dome is breathtaking and whether you have religious proclivities or not, there is a sense of magic at being in a place of prayer.  Of note in the side aisles, there is a beautiful Henry Moore Mother & Child sculpture and Daisy enjoyed spotting various animals in Holman Hunt’s Light of the World painting. We liked the marble effigy of John Donne, one-time Dean of St Paul’s, one of very few pieces to have survived the Great Fire. Survival is a big part of St Paul’s. 

There is some excellent footage in the crypt of the symbol of national resistance that the mighty dome became during the Blitz. We understood what it must have been like after a night of intense bombing to look to the skyline and see it was still standing. Nelson and Wellington get the honours for grandeur of their tombs, though the Latin epitaph above the innocuous tomb of Wren himself wins the prize. Written by his son, it famously addresses us: 'Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.'  With this in mind we headed up into the dome. First stop (30 metres/257 steps) is the Whispering Gallery. Once there, Daisy stayed still and I walked round 180 degrees.  She leant her ear to the wall and, from my side, I whispered for her to put her hands on her head. The delay and then broad grin as she responded was priceless.  To the top of the dome is another 300 steps (55 metres). I am a claustrophobic and Daisy had her leg in plaster so we gave it a miss and headed back to the crypt and the excellent café. Her dad and little brother returned to take the shot from the top (pictured above left). 

St Paul's Cathedral is open Monday - Saturday 8.30am-4pm.   Adults £14.50; Children £5.50 (Valid for 1 year).  stpauls.co.uk

WESTMINSTER ABBEY 

Two weeks later, we went to Westminster Abbey. Saturday morning rather than a school day meant a 40-minute queue to get in. The Abbey is older (much of the building is 13th century) and feels more like a traditional English church, albeit on a massive scale. Tourist approach is via a side door so don’t expect the wow factor of Miss Middleton’s entrance. In fact, the overwhelming feeling is that of entering an old museum.

We used the good Children’s Trail (giving up on Jeremy Irons’ laboured audio).  There are A LOT of tombs and monuments to dead people. Of most interest to Daisy, who has just finished studying the Tudors, was the Lady Chapel, which houses the tomb of Elizabeth I. Bloody Mary is buried beneath her sister, but gets no visual monument. Next up is Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded by her cousin but then given a magnificent tomb here when her son, James I, became King. Children are quite keen on tombs of people they have heard of, it’s a bit like getting someone’s autograph or seeing them at Madame Tussaud’s, so Daisy was happy with dead monarchs. She was less impressed by Poets’ Corner and Musicians’ Aisle. 

If St Paul’s is the nation’s church, Westminster Abbey is the church of the monarchy, having seen 38 coronations. The coronation chair, commissioned in 1297, is the oldest piece of furniture in Britain still used for its original purpose. It is a memorably simple wooden chair, complete with grafitti from 18th-century school boys.  It was also, prior to Henry VIII’s abolition of the monasteries, a working abbey. The cloisters and precincts where the monks lived are a calm place to wander and stop for lunch. There is a small museum where younger children can borrow clothes and dress up in monks’ habits. You can also seek out the oldest surviving door in England.  We leave via the main door and over the most famous grave of them all, the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

Westminster Abbey is open 9.30am-3.30pm.   Adults £16; under 11's free westminster-abbey.org