Encounter an Elizabethan timber framed former public house, homes for the poor built in Charles ll’s reign, as well as a ghost or two.  Snapshots include highlights from the three riverside villages where painters such as Van Gogh, Turner and Hogarth once lived.

A meander highlighting features of towns and villages that today form the London Borough of Hounslow.  Bedfont, has a picturesque 11th century church, architect James Wyatt lived in the Royal Manor of Hanworth where later universal provider William Whiteley owned extensive farmland, while in Heston a “house of the future” can be found.

Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire entertained at Chiswick House, a fine Palladian villa, and no mean rival to Osterley bequeathed by an Earl of Jersey to the National Trust. Secrets of lesser known homes such as that of a soap manufacturer and world famous botanist, as well as an early film studio, are also explored.

Glimpses of Isleworth which boasts a wealth of almshouses and charity schools. By contrast its riverside setting has also attracted more wealthy occupants, and is the setting for Syon House, the only Ducal Palace in London still in private ownership.