The Fan Museum, Greenwich

The British Museum, the VA, the Natural History Museum - London is stuffed with big, impressive museums.

But it's sometimes the quirky little museums that are more fun to visit. No queues, no throngs of tourists on a schedule, and a chance to see some very unusual things.

I like the Fan Museum in Greenwich. As far as I know, it's unique. No other museum in the world is devoted purely and simply to fans. It was set up by the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers and occupies one of the fine Georgian houses just off Crooms Hill - an elegant and refined home for an elegant art.

Here you can see royal fans, fans with a history. Lace fans as delicate as cobwebs. Chinoiserie fans and real Chinese fans. You can see how fans were made. If you like intricate and delicate crafts, if you're interested in the decorative arts, it's a great place to go and pick up ideas.

One recently acquired fan was painted by Sickert and it's a real piece of history, showing the entertainer Little Dot Hetherington singing in a Victorian music hall. We sometimes forget how painters in England sought out the music hall the way Degas or Toulouse Lautrec sought out the ballet and cabaret as a subject for their pictures. An entire world captured on a tiny fabric lunette.

There are even fan-making workshops on the first Saturday of each month. Family fun perhaps, but not for the real youngsters - children need to be over 12.

Go on Tuesday or Sunday and you can have afternoon tea in the museum as well.

Where: 12 Crooms Hill, Greenwich SE10

When: Tuesday to Saturday 11-5, Sunday 12-5