Hampstead is charming, eclectic, interesting, cosmopolitan and trendy. Gainsborough Gardens is probably my favorite streets, with its stylish period houses. Another is Greenaway Gardens and its large ambassadorial style homes. Although some have been converted into flats, many remain as single dwellings, and prices for houses here would start at approximately £9 million. Other lovely streets include Willow Road with its tall Victorian properties overlooking the Heath, many of which are now flats. The area offers so many unique homes and usually fares well in both recessive and bullish times. The shortage of property currently for sale, matches with an ever- increasing register of able buyers, creates a supply and demand situation, and I cannot see a dramatic price adjustment in the near future. Hampstead has always had a reputation for being populated by artists, authors, poets and intellectuals, and today is no exception- with the addition of famous TV and film stars, sportsmen and women, bankers and city folk together with families, singletons, the old, the young and everyone in between. That’s why its such a great place to live and work. For shopping, I rather like Theory and Sandro for ladies wear, as well as Charli, which is slightly further down Rossyln Hill, and Jane & Dada, which sells unusual, more individual clothes for women, Waterstones is a big favourite; I can spend hours looking through the books.

Printed in Fabric April 2015