Leila McAlister's grocery shop and café off Arnold Circus, Shoreditch. You can find the best of everything, from jars of horseradish to eggs and croissants.

Fischer’s on Marylebone High Street. A classic Austrian café/ restaurant in an Accidental Wes Anderson Interior.

Epping Forest is a 2,400 hectares area of ancient woodland between Epping in the north and Wanstead in the south, straddling the border between Greater London and Essex. I tend to get off at Loughton Tube Station (Central Line), which is about 10–12min walk to the forest.

Half a mile from Markfield Park down the River Lee is Springfield Park. The park rises steeply up from the river and has an amazing array of tree species making it beautiful in all seasons. At the brim of the hill there is a line of park benches each one surrounded by box hedge offering a private view across the Lee Valley, Walthamstow and beyond. The park warden was nice enough to give me a chestnut log a couple of years ago from which I carved a bench and two stools.

A great place to start the day if you are in South London is Federation Coffee in Brixton Village. The food is great and so is the coffee. This is a very chilled place where you can get both and indoor and outdoor experience (even though the whole place is under the Village roof).