The Horniman at Hays

In a prime example of Victorian philanthropy, tea merchant Frederick John Horniman amassed thousands of objects on his travels, then gifted them all to the nation with the lofty purpose of educating others. There’s a huge taxidermy collection, 16 acres of gardens, and it’s free! Go see the merman! It’s from Japan, and is really, really old and really, really strange. It looks like a monkey’s head on a fish’s body, but no one’s quite sure exactly what it is.