Yesterday, I visited The Wallace Collection, a wonderful, small museum off quiet Manchester Square and not far from the busy Oxford Street shopping district.

The museum is in a mansion that was home to the marquesses of Hertfordshire, aristocrats and collectors who had a sharp eye for good things.

As the museum's site says, the house contains "one of the best collections of French 18th-century pictures, porcelain and furniture in the world, a remarkable array of 17th-century paintings and a superb armoury."

Artists represented include Titian, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Fragonard, Van Dyck, Rubens and Canaletto. The walls of one room alone are covered with Canaletto's light views of Venice.

For me, a highlight of the visit was the three rooms of European armor and one room of Middle Eastern and Asian armor and swords. Fantastic.

One of the best things about The Wallace Collection is the price: free. I recommend the audio guide, which is well worth the £3 they ask.

I also enjoyed a coffee at the museum's elegant yet informal Cafe Bagatelle, which sits in the museum's glass-ceilinged courtyard. The cafe offers three levels of afternoon tea, up to what I think of as First Class: scones, finger sandwiches AND cake. Yum.