THEY say if you remember Woodstock - or indeed the Sixties - you weren’t really there.

But many of the people around me appear to be basking in the memory. With closed eyes, they recline on cushions and rugs as the air is filled with Jimi Hendrix’s legendary solo of the Star Spangled Banner.

Woodstock is re-created in a chill-out room in London’s Victoria &Albert Museum, where footage of the 1969 festival is part of a fascinating exhibition exploring the cultural legacy of the decade that shook the world. You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966 - 1970 (until February 26) embraces the music, fashion, film, design and political activism of the 60s, with artefacts including handwritten Beatles lyrics, Andy Warhol’s 1966 ‘Souper dress’ and a space suit from the Apollo 8 mission. From Carnaby Street to the Paris student riots, the exhibition considers the revolutions of the era and their impact on our lives today.

I could spend a whole day in the V&A. One of the world’s leading art and design museums, its stunning collections include architecture, textiles, photography, sculpture and ceramics - and it has gift shops to die for.

It's a 10-minute walk from Kensington House Hotel, where I stayed. A stylish town house on an elegant Georgian terrace, just off Kensington High Street, the 41-bed boutique hotel is relaxed and intimate, with an understated sense of cool. The efficient staff struck the right balance of being friendly and helpful, without being irritatingly over-attentive, and it was an oasis of calm after a day in the buzz of central London. It’s a short walk from the Royal Albert Hall and Kensington Gardens, and with easy reach of Harrods and other Knightsbridge shops and restaurants.

With London attractions a few Tube stops away, it’s a perfect base from which to explore the Capital.

My partner and I drew up an itinerary of places we each wanted to visit; with the V&A at the top of my list and Bond in Motion, featuring cars from the 007 movies, on his. A joint choice was Greenwich, which we reached by boat.

We boarded an MBNA Thames Clipper at Westminster, after visiting the Churchill War Rooms. Beneath the streets, the underground museum tells the story of the Cabinet War Rooms and the bunker housing staff and secrets during the Second World War - with the famous Map Room remaining at it was when the lights were turned off in 1945.

Using River Roamer tickets, we took the Thames Clipper past landmarks including the Globe theatre, HMS Belfast and the Shard. Passengers hopping on and off included tourists and commuters making the Friday teatime journey home.

At Greenwich we wandered past the beautiful Royal Naval College and along the river, then to the market where we enjoyed pie and mash in a cafe, served over the counter by a chatty cockney lady as chirpy as the Lambeth Walk.

With the Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Park and the O2 among the attractions, you could spend a weekend here and still not see it all.

Later we headed back along the river, London’s spectacular skyline lighting up the night sky.

Next day we headed to Charing Cross Road for a browse in its quirky old bookshops. Stepping inside these second-hand and antiquarian shops, with labyrinths of bookcases, is like visiting another age, and offers quiet respite from London’s busy crowds.

Then it was on to Covent Garden, where the London Film Museum Bond in Motion is a permanent exhibition.

Not being a James Bond fan, I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic, whereas my partner has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things 007 and was in seventh heaven among the cars, motorcycles, speedboats and aircraft from the films.

It turned out to quite a thrill being up close to the Aston Martin DB5, which even I recognised as the classic Bond car, and others such as Goldfinger’s Rolls-Royce Phantom III and the Lotus Esprit S1 submersible from The Spy Who Loved Me. Every vehicle is an original from a Bond film, right down to the Crocodile Submarine from Octopussy.

Also on display is design work revealing the creative process behind the movies, including never-seen-before concept art and storyboards.

Outside, the streets were filled with early evening theatre crowds as we headed to a nearby pub for drinks - shaken, not stirred, of course.

* Rates at Kensington House Hotel start at £120. Visit kenhouse.com or call (0207) 937 2345.

* MBNA Thames Clippers Tickets from central London to Canary Wharf cost £6.50 (adult single journey) and £3.25 for a child. A River Roamer ticket covers unlimited hop on, hop off travel all day from £14.70 for adults and £7.35 for children. Vsit thamesclippers.com.