Hampstead Heath is one of the places where hunting was forbidden as early as 1543, to preserve game for then king, Henry VIII. But in late 1800s the Heath offered Londoners shelter from the noise and dirt of London and eventually was granted a protected status. Hampstead Heath popular with swimmers, nature lovers, nudists and authors like CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is said to have been inspired by a snowy walk on the heath, describing as the “lungs of the metropolis”. Overlooking West Heath is the Hampstead Pergola and Hill Garden, a private garden of now demolished manor house and always a popular wedding venue. Cast your eyes to the east,  Parliament Hill which offers beautiful landscaped views across the capital displaying The Shard, and also Parliament Lido, an open air swimming pool that is open all year around featuring three natural bathing ponds: Kenwood ladies’ pond, Highgate men’s pond and Hampstead mixed pond. Hampstead also has been home to several celebrities including Judi Dench, Harry Styles, Helena Bonham Carter and Liam Gallagher. Local antique shop like Keith Fawkes,  at Flash Walk and an Aladdin’s cave of antiques and an Sunday Artisan Market.

The historic architecture of Keats House in the beautiful Regency Villa was once home to romantic  poet John Keats, who was inspired  to understand love and friendship. Hampstead festival hosted live performance of Macbeth.

Kenwood House on the edge of Heath  and Burgh House a Grade 1-listed house that was a private residence for most of its life but is now a dynamic space for art. Freud Museum, the final home of psychologist Sigmund Freud and his daughter Anna Freud.

The Spaniards Inn built in 1585 as a tollgate on the Finchley boundary tis inn was immortalised by Charles Dickens in The Pickwick Papers and the place in which John Keats wrote Ode to a Nightingale. Holy Bush is a Grade II-listed pub in the heart of Hampstead.