Not too long ago, on one of those rare sunny, warm-ish days in London, I grabbed my accomplice (boyfriend, as boring people say) and we ventured out to a little area called Hampstead Heath. Before I went, I don’t know that I had even heard of the area, but in London, it’s more crucial than ever to take advantage when the weather is gorgeous, and that usually involves a little adventure.

According to the internet, Hampstead Heath is “ancient”, “grassy”, “a preserved paradise” and “effing gorgeous”. (That last part may be from my own blog.) It’s basically a giant park. The magic of it, however is that its still so close to the city centre, but you absolutely feel like you are in another land. London is everything, but for those days when you just need to add a bit of chill to your routine, it’s so nice to have a place like Hampstead so close to home.

Hampstead has gorgeous gardens, a mini zoo, god-awful public toilets, a playground for kids, a cafe, and a palace/mansion/castle/basically just really nice apartments with lots of security. Oh. And SO many squirrels (Irrational Fear #237).

We spent the majority of our time (after climbing trees) exploring what I like to call, ‘The Ancient Ruins of Ye Olde Hampstead’, but which I think was just a giant garden that looked super cool. It made me think of places in Italy, maybe or Greece, that I have seen pictures once upon a time.

Hampstead Heath was gorgeous in most areas and breathtaking in others and has been one of my favorite ‘finds’ in London so far.