By the end of that first day, I knew the lady on the Chelsea bus had been correct. We had severely underestimated the scope and vastness of London's museums. Our first stop had been the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. For years, I had been promising to take my two sons to see the "real dinosaurs" in London.

As you enter the main hall of the museum, you can't miss the amazing skeleton of a 26-metre Diplodocus, which last year celebrated its 100th year on display. My sons gasped when they saw the huge dino suspended across the room. Once they had seen that, there was no tearing them away from the creatures on display.

On show was the fossilised lower jaw of the first T.Rex ever discovered - the teeth measure a staggering 15 centimetres. And we were lucky that, during our visit, a very special T.Rex dinosaur was on display. Unlike previous animatronic models, this one used its "senses" to spot prey - including unsuspecting visitors.

The dinos may have been a highlight, but the museum had a bounty of delights to offer the boys. Later in the week, they would be treated to a simulated earthquake, a view of the deadliest creatures in the world and a science lab where children aged 7-14 year olds can handle geological specimens. “It's like Disneyland , but real,” my youngest son said.

When we got back to our hotel that night, my husband decided to draw up a “battle plan” for our museum visits. We decided that we would have to focus on just one or two. The Natural History Museum was my husband's choice. I went for the Victoria and Alfred Museum, not only because of its fabulous collection of fashion wear and children's toys, but also because of location across the road from the Natural History Museum. An added bonus was that our hotel, the Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt, was only a five-minute stroll away.

We would also give ourselves a chance to "peek" into a few other museums. We both wanted to have lunch at the British Museum, just off our favourite areas of London, Russell Square and Bloomsbury. We decided that later in the week my husband and the boys would visit the Cabinet War Rooms and the London Dungeon and I would head for the National Gallery and Bramah's Museum of Tea and Coffee

For the first five days we followed a set regimen. Up early for breakfast, then off to the Natural History Museum. Around about tea time, I would leave the family and spent a few hours at the Victoria and Alfred before rejoining them again later. What a treat the V&A was for me! Without anyone to hurry me along, I spent hours dawdling over the things that I love.

I mean, who else would take two hours to look over the collection of teddy bears? Or almost as much time examining the craftsmanship of antique Indian furniture, so richly embellished with ivory and mother-of-pearl or inlaid with precious stones and gold. The V&A has so much to see. In fact, the museum houses 7 miles of exhibition space, containing a collection of over 4 million objects. If you think that's a lot, the National Museum has more than 70 million specimens on view. And the amazing thing is that entrance to both museums is free.

On a drizzly Thursday afternoon, I set off for the National Gallery to see my two favourite paintings, “Sunflowers” by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticelli's “Venus and Mars”. Then I was off to Bramah's Museum of Tea and Coffee. It is located across the Thames in Southwark, so on the way I quickly popped in to have a look at the new Globe Theatre, rebuilt as it was in the days when Shakespeare was rousing the rabble with his plays. Nearby is the London Eye, but there was no time to queue for that, so I hot-footed it to Bramah's.

It's rather a quaint museum, covering everything you ever wanted to know about tea or coffee. They explain the evolution of coffee-making from the Baghdad Boiler and the Turkish Ibrik to the cappuccino machines of today. You also get a fascinating insight into the tea trade, which was centred on the London Bridge area where the museum is located.

One is transported back to the days when sailing ships from China and steamers from India and Ceylon unloaded their wares at the docks on the Thames nearby. A great end to the visit is to have a proper English afternoon tea, with cucumber sandwiches, crumpets, tea cake and scones with clotted cream. My husband loved the Cabinet War Rooms and could have spent hours reading the historical documents on show. Predictably, the boys preferred the London Dungeon, with its grizzly displays, but the real highlight for them was shopping for CDs at a Virgin Mega-Store on the way back to the hotel.

We left our visit to the British Museum for the last day. I had booked a table at The Court Restaurant, which sits under the centrepiece of the renovations to the museum, a huge glass dome roof designed by Sir Norman Foster. Watching tourists stroll by and lovers holding hands took us back to the days of our courtship, when we spent a weekend in the old Russell Hotel , just across the square. “What a time we had then,” I said. “No,” replied my husband, “What a time we've had now.” I could only smile.