Short read: Platonic ideal of a London village…
Long read: Stuccoed Italianate villas. Best sightlines in London.* “The very last word in London bohemia” in the 1960s. Today? Simply posh. Let alone outrageously expensive. Great square. Cluster of agreeable shops, cafes and restaurants. Breath-taking literary associations: William Butler Yeats, Alan Bennet, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, V. S. Pritchett, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. (Here she wrote some of her greatest poetry and The Bell Jar. Here she took her life. I can’t go past that house without being haunted by that last morning – the sleeping children, the wet towels carefully arranged underneath the kitchen door, the cleaning lady coming late because of the snow.) History aplenty – going back to Henry VI (mid-15th century). Film scenes aplenty (so many have been shot in Primrose Hill residents have begun to complain about the frequent disruption. Local guide: Anne-Marie. *The sightlines to St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster are so spectacular they’ve been designated “strategic views” and are safeguarded from inappropriate development.
PRIMROSE HILL VILLAGE – THE PRACTICALS
Primrose Hill Village takes place at 10:45am on Sunday July 11th
To go on the Primrose Hill Village walk meet Anne-Marie just outside the exit of Chalk Farm Tube Stop.
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