Those with a proclivity for telescopes, watches, clocks and horological miscellanea take note. This weekend marks your last chance to visit the Royal Observatory at Greenwich for free.

From Tuesday 8 March, the Observatory will introduce a £10 fee for adults (£7.50 concessions…but kids under 16 can still get in for free). The payment gets you a year’s entrance, and Greenwich residents can get a discount.

It’s the first time the museum has charged in around a decade, and a huge pity. But them’s the times we’re living in.

If you’ve never been before, I urge you to visit. Pronto. The Observatory is perhaps most famous for straddling the Greenwich Meridian, the notional boundary between hemispheres. This is just the start. The Observatory contains the largest refracting telescope in the UK (often opened to visitors to try a spot of star gazing). You can also see the famous marine chronometers of John Harrison (remember the book Longitude?). The site also contains London’s only Planetarium and three space galleries (which will remain free). And, let’s not forget, the observatory hill offers one of the best views in London – worth every drop of sweat the ascent will take out of you.

The Peter Harrison Planetarium