Join Blue Badge Guide David Thompson for a fascinating stroll round one of London's most elegant estate.

Developed through the 18th century by the Russell Family – the Dukes of Bedford – Bloomsbury presents an image of genteel living in elegant terraces and squares, as famously satirized in Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. 

In the 19th century Bloomsbury’s well-heeled residents held back the onslaught of the Age of Steam. But ironically in the 20th century a stealthful infiltration by Academia destroyed much of the area’s ordered urban fabric.

On this walk we explore through the buildings of Bloomsbury both its development as a residential district and subsequent emergence as a centre of learning and knowledge.