Primrose Hill

It felt like the first sunny day of the year, so I wanted to get out somewhere to enjoy it. I chose Primrose Hill, starting at Chalk Farm tube station, which I normally only use when going to gigs at the Roundhouse. It is a distinctive station with oxblood red tiles designed by Leslie Green. I think there are over 30 of his stations on the network from about the beginning of the 20th century.

Then over the railway bridge which sort of marks a border crossing between "gritty" Camden and posh Primrose Hill. The little coffee shop feels like the unofficial border station

At which point one comes into the upmarket pubs and glamorous terraces of Primrose Hill, all laid out in the first half of Queen Victoria's reign. Before which it was probably fields and meadows, presumably strewn with primroses. On the corner facing the bridge is the Pembroke Castle, originally the watering hole for Welsh workers living in the area . (The Irish frequented the Dublin Castle, my regular haunt for indie gigs. English went for the Windsor Castle. And there is an Edinboro Castle...)

The whole area has these smart big Victorian terraces, which would set you back millions to buy.

The Lansdowne

The Engineer

There is a little bridge over Regents Canal, one of the nicest views in London in my opinion

This is Primrose Hill Primary School, whose past pupils include Boris Johnson and Ed Milliband

A coal hole in the street. There are a lot of these. They cover the coal stores of the big houses

Utopia Village which used to be a piano factory. North London had a big piano manufacturing industry from those pre television days where the family would gather around the piano for a sing song in an evening.

I really like these terraces

The Princess of Wales

A set of artists studios completed in 1877

Another piano factory

This is Chalcot Square. Would love to live here. So pretty

Sylvia Plath, the poet, did live here with husband Ted Hughes, in a flat not the whole house

Number 60 Regents Park Road is notable as the childhood home of Boris Johnson. Not as big as the neighbouring house, but still not a humble abode, overlooking Primrose Hill.

So on the other side of the road from these lovely villas is Primrose Hill - a public park with a great view across London

There really is quite a big hill with an observation area at the top. As you can see, I wasn't the only person to think of coming here on a sunny day.

Its a pleasant park to wander around - keeping to the paths. Much of the grassy areas were more like bogs. We have had a lot of rain.

To the right above is the unremarkable St Edmunds Terrace. Unremarkable to look at, but it does have a significant place in literary history. HG Wells used to live in Primrose Hill and this is where at the end of War of the Worlds he encounters the Martians dying from our Earthly bugs

Then back onto Regents Park Road heading back to Chalk Farm and past endless upmarket little shops and eateries. It is a posh area. Once enjoyed by Friedrich Engels, once a big friend of Karl Marx

St Georges Mews, once home to stabling for the horses for the carriages of the big houseowners.

Easy to miss as one passes down the streets, but above the shops there are rather worn stone carvings. One should always look up when going down a Victorian high street

Looking rather out of place, the former Chalk Farm Garage

And next door to that, apparently former home of Creation Records, Oasis's record label.

And finally, the wonderfully Victorian sounding former "Home for Unconvicted Destitute Boys". Now largely posh flats but until the 1920s a place where young impoverished lads would be taught a trade.

Then back over the bridge to the mean streets of Camden....