London's top views

Mountain panoramas and coastal vistas are all very well but, as these pictures prove, you do not need to stray beyond our capital to enjoy great views.

We invited readers to nominate their choice of the best view in London, following Country Life magazine drawing up a list of Britain's best-loved scenery (the view of Salisbury Cathedral immortalised by Constable came out on top). We were astonished by the flood of responses, and today we publish some of the best.

Mark Fox recommended the view from Waterloo Bridge, right, saying: "I never tire of it, and it always reminds me of how lucky I am to live and work in such a vibrant and historic city."

A much smaller bridge, this time over the lake in St James's Park, below left, presents another classic view looking towards Whitehall, although the Queen reportedly feels the London Eye has upset its harmony. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and James Wilson says the same London Eye encircling Big Ben is a stunning view, below.

Perhaps David Walters' reasons for choosing the Royal Observatory's view from the top of Greenwich Park sums up the requisites of a great London view: encapsulating old, new, classical and contemporary.