Shop: Clifton Nurseries

Yep I know, an oldie, but such a goodie. This little gem is hidden behind houses in Little Venice, Maida Vale and houses a garden centre, cafe, shop and flower shop. Its not massive but always full of new and unusual plants and they do lectures and courses. They also sell great water features such as the Medusa fountain I had in the garden of my last flat. Amazingly, they are currently selling old wooden crates for £19.99 which is unheard of. Many a time I've just popped in for something and spent a fortune on plants for my window boxes. They aren't cheap here but they do seem to last for ages.

Its a bit of a bugger to park nearby, so don't - far better to walk along the canal which is so gorgeous near there. Whilst in the area you can also visit the pretty tea dress shop Suzannah, just round the corner.

Clifton Nurseries

5a Clifton Villas

London W9 2PH

Tel: +44 207 289 6851

Cafe: Morito, Exmouth Market

Meeting my designer friend Paul in Clerkenwell gives me a good excuse to go to Exmouth Market for lunch. This time we visited Moro's new baby, Morito which is a tiny tapas bar next door to the original.

Its fairly traditional tapas and after knocking back a couple of pomegranate juices, we shared squid, olives and patatas bravas, walnuts and other tiny plates of deliciousness. Paul, who was once a vegan but now is a rare meat lover, managed to squeeze in a tiny hamburguesa too.

Morito

32 Exmouth Market

London EC1B 4QE

Tel: +44 2072787007

Hampstead Women's Pond

One of my most favourite places is the Womens Pond on Hampstead Heath. Its such a special, almost secret place and it makes me know I'm at home when I visit. When I lived in London, I came often, summer and winter. A quick dip in winter gets your heart pumping and staves off colds like nothing else. I always tried to shy off, but then saw the older ladies who braved the ice and realised I had no excuse. Summer is pure delight. Kingfishers early in the morning. Ducks, moorhens and geese nesting messily on the life rings, then proudly showing off their young, who trailed behind them across the meadows.

I love the wildflowers on the paths and the heathrobinson-esque shower arrangement, involving a hot water tap and buckets when the warm shower stops. I love the chat of the regulars in the mornings and the welcomeness they show to newcomers, offering spare costumes and towels. I even love the school girls in large groups who lounge lazily on the meadows in the summer holidays, talking at the top of their voices then shriek as they enter the water.

My favourite thing to do is come early, with a friend and, after a big stomp around the Heath, and catch our breath every time at the top of Parliament Hill, use our swim as a good catch up. Then scrambled egg breakfast at either Kalendar (was Cafe Mozart) on Swains Lane, or a walk to Kenwood to sit outside in the pretty garden and read the paper in the sun.

Use your Loaf

I had dippy eggs and soldiers this morning at a pretty new cafe in Avalon called 'Loaf'. They also sell freshly baked bread to take home and the perfectly sized sourdough is delicious.

It's right next to the pet shop full of the oddest breeds of puppy are available. Very hard to resist though, they are all so adorable.

LOAF CAFE AND BAKERY

Bellevue Avenue
Avalon 2107

Twig Cafe

I'm a big fan of Petersham Nurseries. It's one of those treat places that you go when you're feeling a bit flat and you're in need of some countryside and cake. Whilst its predominately a garden centre, the choice is a lot better than your average, and it has lots of ethnic wood, funky bulbs and nice welly boots to offer, as well as talks and of course the wonderful food from Skye Gyngell in the restaurant that has to be booked months in advance to get a sniff at a table. I've often dreamed of starting my own food and plant combo, two of my favourite things.

The boys at Garden Life in Surry Hills have done just that. Inspired by Petersham, they have a stylish little shop with a great cafe out the back. Its inside/outside which helps with the weather we're having at the moment and seems always to be buzzing, which is nice. Not many cows though, but I suppose you can't have everything!

GARDEN LIFE

357 CLEVELAND STREET

SURRY HILLS

NSW 2016

TEL 02 8399 0666

Wet weather option

After a busy Friday and Saturday night with the boys who are in town, on Sunday we were feeling very lazy. This matched the weather perfectly, because sometime during the night, the heavens opened, and continued until mid afternoon. Its the warm kind of rain, which falls straight unaffected by wind. We stripped off and took a shower standing on the balcony, and within a few minutes, we were absolutely soaked!

Through word of mouth, we've found a German/french bread shop not far from here, and we breakfasted on scrambled eggs on real poilane bread. Mine of course with marmite. This may not seem much but when these simple things are so hard to find, it makes them all the more delicious.

M has started painting again, and spent most of the day in his studio. I love it that he is so happy and everywhere I go I find bits of cloth with shocking pink or blue streaks of paint. I'm having magazines forwarded, and I'm relishing everything I can get my hands on, even some that I would not normally read. Yesterday Country Life and Monocle felt like the Sunday papers and were read cover to cover.

At lunchtime, we ventured out in flipflops and plastic coats to one of my most favourite eating places - Hibusuma Oriental Cafe. The tiny little whitewashed space is filled with old antique mismatched furniture and dried hydrangeas and the chef busies himself behind a tiny glass screen making delicious Chinese dumplings and soups. The owner, who has come to recognise us, serves all the food, assisted by his non smiling wife behind the counter. He knows we love the food and passes dishes bound for others, under our noses, so we can smell what else there is on offer. And he even remembers I don't eat meat, bringing us bowls of noodle soup with 'no meat, only chicken', which I pretend to enjoy and pass secretly to my delighted boyfriend!

Hibusuma Oriental Cafe

Kakinokizaka Street

Zip 152-0023 Tel 03 3723 2455