A station, a stop or two away from London sits a shop that is only open once or twice a year – its specialty are books but it also sells things.

The closest you can get to Little Italy in the east. The owners are amazing, the atmosphere is relaxed, the lunches are abundant and homemade. The cakes are amazing, try Torta Clara (pear and chocolate) for the ultimate bliss.

6a architects transformed the six-storey building at the corner of Redchurch Street into a multidisciplinary space. A shop, a gallery, a restaurant. 

I go to the Heath every weekend (often via the wonderful Waterlow Park which skirts Highgate Cemetery) and during the week too if I’m working from home; it helps to put things in perspective when I’m thinking about my work. It’s great in the summer for obvious reasons but I love it the most in autumn and on those rare days it snows so much London grinds to a halt (which doesn’t take much). Everyone heads up there to make giant snowballs/cats/creatures and surf down Parliament Hill on anything they can get their hands on. Grown ups turn into kids for the day. My husband and I made this snow yeti last year, it was sad to leave him behind but he soon made friends and even made it into the Camden New Journal.

Since The Columbo Group took over The Jazz Cafe, it's become the best programmed venue in the city, focusing on jazz, soul, funk, disco and afrobeat.