Sustenance comes courtesy of the excellent Brew House Caf?breakfasts recommended), or take a picnic and admire the glorious view outside. Where: Hampstead Lane, NW3 (020 8348 1286) .uk Hampstead/Golders Green tube When: April-September, daily 10am-6pm How much: Donations welcome. 2 Willow Road One of the National Trust’s more modest properties, perhaps, but this newly acquired terraced house is a fascinating example of pre-war modernist architecture by no less a figure than Ern? Goldfinger, creator of the rather more infamous and somewhat larger Trellick Tower in Kensington. Willow Road, Goldfinger’s home for more than half a century, retains most of its original fixtures and fittings, plus there’s an extensive art collection, with pieces by the likes of Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Bridget Riley.Where: 2 Willow Road, NW3 (020 7435 6166) .uk Hampstead tube When: April-October, Thur-Sat, 12-5pm, guided tours only How much: £4.40 adults, £2.20 children, £11 family. Swaminarayan temple Who would have thought it? Spiritual enlightenment in Neasden.
The Hindu Swaminarayan temple was constructed in 1995 and is on a truly epic scale, its marble pinnacles and domes rising as if by magic from a grey sea of suburban housing just off the North Circular. It attracts huge numbers, who come to worship and marvel at the intricate carvings, statues and decoration, the work of 1,500 craftsmen specially brought over from India. Everyone is welcome to visit ælsquo; as long as you take your shoes off first ælsquo; and there is an informative exhibition inside explaining the life and work of Lord Swaminarayan and the tenets of the faith. Where: Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, 105-119 Brentfield Road, Neasden, London NW10 (020 8965 2651), ; Stonebridge Park or Neasden tube When: Daily, 9am-6.30pm How much: Free.
Speciality shopsAfter Noah This idiosyncratic and largely retro homewares, furniture and gift store is currently in the process of expanding into the neighbouring premises, providing much needed extra space. Many of the larger pieces here are one-offs and antiques, with a slant towards post-war utility and the modernist, and tend to be pricey. There are also highly desirable made-to-order steel beds and leather sofas (again with a nod to original period designs), as well as hundreds of novelties, toys, cosmetics and stocking fillers Ideal for browsing, and easy to be tempted. Where: 121 Upper Street, N1 (020 7359 4281), Angel/Highbury & Islington tube.
When: Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm; Sun, 12noon-5pm.Flower shopsIslington is blooming ælsquo; with a burst of new flower shops. The leading light is still Paula Pryke whose innovative style can now be viewed in expanded premises about five minutes from the tube in Penton Street. Angel Flowers, on Upper Street (the main road), has also been pulling in a similarly discerning crowd for a while now, and has some more substantial plant offerings. Or why not do it al fresco: the stall outside Toni & Guy at the beginning of Camden Passage has been there longer than any of its rivals and has never been of the crysanth-and-gyps persuasion. Ditto the very latest, and late-opening, flower stall (well, more of a shed) just by St Mary’s Church, halfway up Upper Street, whose sea of bouquet-laden steel buckets will have your nose twitching in delight. Where: Paula Pryke Flowers, 20 Penton Street, N1 (020 7837 7336) Highbury & Islington tube. Angel Flowers, 60 Upper Street (020 7704 6312) Highbury & Islington tube Stalls at Camden Passage and St Mary’s Church When: Times vary.