Pick an ice cream at Ruby’s : now I know it seems odd to recommend an ice cream place in a city known for the rain, but Ruby’s on Junction Road in Tufnell Park is something of a local legend. All the ice cream is handmade with ever changing flavors! I even did a photoshoot there where I got so much ice cream I was sticky and messy I had to literally go home and wash before the next look was shot… like a 4 year old. There’s nothing quite like the childlike joy of comparing flavors with your girlfriends, be that on beautiful walks on Hampstead Heath, the huge park around the corner, or hiding in its tiny interior as the rain pours outside. 118 Fortess Road
Discover St John’s Tavern in Archway : another local spot for me, not to be confused with the fancy restaurant in the east of the city. This place does gastro pub like nowhere else I know – all locally produced and constantly changing. It has a proper pub where you can just order scotch eggs and a pint then on the other side a grand red painted dining hall that reminds me of a London long-forgotten, with moody mildly erotic art that watches you make your way through the wine list. Always save room for dessert, but don’t get a flummery – we tried it once it was really weird! 91 Junction Road
Visit the Keats House : this National Trust property is the home of the romantic poet Keats. It lives in a particularly magical and villagey part of Hampstead. You can tour the whole house for a fee but I adore to just sit in its free and publicly open gardens to read, write or just look for the meaning of life. 10 Keats Grove
Keats House / The Edition Hotel
Relax at Celestine 11 : nestled in a back street of Shoreditch, this store is sort of my spiritual home a mix of crystals, affirmations, yoga classes and the best of fashion’s young design talents. Even though it’s a small space I always come out clutching something. My most recent purchase being a pair of pink Claire Barrow silk pants with cats on, and yes they look exactly as they sound – a bit mental! 4 Holywell Lane
Go for drinks at the punch room at the Edition Hotel : I launched Voyage D’Etudes in the Edition Hotel’s punch room the week the hotel opened its doors in the city. Centrally located during fashion weeks, it’s certainly a place to be seen. The rest of the time the punch room just makes great cocktails in an updated version of a gentleman’s den that very much welcomes secret societies of women too. 10 Berners Street
