Herne Hill is just eleven minutes by train from Victoria, or a fifteen-minute bus ride from Brixton, yet you feel as though you’ve escaped far beyond Zone 2. It was my home for two years and I fell in love, only leaving because I found a greater love and he lived in suburbia. But I’ll be back one day with him in tow!

It may be a small place but it’s packed with fabulous things. You have Artemedoris – a superb gift shop and gallery that promotes beautiful, handmade crafts from glass to scarves. Then there’s Wish – where the owner takes the most fantastic photographs and turns them into art.

If all that wasn’t enough, you can dine in one of the many fabulous family-owned, non-chain restaurants in the area. Lombok serves heavenly Thai (you’ll need to book as very popular). Café Provencale does the best full English breakfast after a little too much vino the night before. For the finest tapas then it’s Number 22, where you must treat yourself to their dessert wine – a wonderful end to a fantastic meal. If you are on the run then you simply have to pop into Sesame – the best deli around which does great foccachia at a very reasonable price. I still get my local friends to pick me up some when they come to visit.

Image courtesy of Pgd on Flickr