Vintage Heaven on Columbia Road brings two of my favourite things together: vintage crockery and homemade cakes. Exactly as the name suggests, the store-cum-café is a paradise for rummagers, with various shelves heaving under the weight of secondhand crockery, bakeware and cutlery. Art deco teapots, floral milk jugs and chintz saucers clamour for your attention, and the stock is ever changing, making each visit a fresh joy.

The owner, Margaret Willis (who I hear has had an obsession with vintage kitchen items since childhood), lovingly sources everything and is a bit of a treat in herself. Always on hand to help you decide on purchases or tell a story, you rather wish she’d join you for a cup of tea in the shop’s backroom café where her daughter Louise has created the quaint Cakehole.

Indeed, if you meander past the precarious stacks of crockery and through a narrow archway you’ll find Louise’s lovely, cosy café decked out with old mirrors, paintings and framed tapestries, as well as Ercol furniture that comes in various shades of brown. The cakes come mainly via Primrose Bakery, though Louise turns-out a fine range of British bakes and the café’s bestseller is her own coffee and walnut. It’s a lovely treat come the weekend, and though Cakehole Café , and indeed Vintage Heaven, are unlikely to be much of a secret to Londoners, they’re still worth remembering, shouting about and, most importantly, enjoying.

TiYK Top Tip! If you’d rather avoid the crowds of shoppers descending on Columbia Road for the weekly flower market, give Sundays at Vintage Heaven a miss. Instead, pop by on the quieter Saturdays when the cubby-like shop and café really are a restful retreat.

Image courtesy of Cakehole Cafe