From William Thacker in Notting Hill to Georgiana Cavendish in the Duchess.

Hallooooo!!

Lets make this into a litle countdown: 11 weeks left in 2016. Eeeek!

So, I'm currently sitting at my little table in my room in London, reminiscing about what a splendid day I have had yesterday and how excited I am to write that particular post. Any Downton Abbey, Harry Potter or Pride and Prejudice fan will find it to be very interesting. But before I can get to that particular post, I will first share a few other exciting photos from Hampstead! Here is a hint:

Yep, last weekend I went to Hampstead and Hampstead Heath with my parents, so of course I had to go to Kenwood house. A splendid country house, owned by English Heritage but free for everyone. It is also the filming location for the Henry James film location in the 1999 flick Notting Hill. A film location of a film location in a film... Filmception? I guess you can tell why I was so excited x)

The house itself is of course stunning. Interior and exterior. The main thing to view, besides the splendor of the rooms, are the portraits and other paintings. Vermeer, Van Dyck, etc. You know, your regular masters.

From Kenwood House we took the bus back to Hampstead and started our tour around town.

Hampstead is situated North of London, above Primrose Hill. Whilst walking around you kind of forget that you are actually still in London. A bit like Greenwich. Mind you, in the olden days, Hampstead wasn't part of London, but the capital has been growing and growing, taking all the surrounding small villages under its wings. Hence the name 'Greater London'.

Our first stop was on Admiral's Walk where you find the house that allegedly inspired P.L. Travers. Remember Mary Poppins? And the Bank's weird neighbours who kept on firing cannons from their roof? Well, apparently this happend in real life, more specifically on this roof top. Nowadays, it is rumored to belong to Russell Crow and no cannons are being fired from the rooftop though.

From there it is only a small walk to Fenton House where I had a sneak peek in the gardens. Little high five for any fellow National Trust members x)

Then we've visited the grave of the late Jane Austen's cousin who is buried in one of the graveyards. And then it was time for lunch! At the Wells. Ridiculously delicious food. Highly recommend it! Very busy though so bear that in mind.

From the Wells Tavern it is another 2min walk to 2 Willow Road. This house was designed by Erno Goldfinger, the guy that allegedly is the inspiration for the Bond villain Goldfinger. Ian Fleming was a Hampstead inhabitant in the 1930's when Goldfinger had this idea of a very modern building. This meant for a few cottages to be knocked down. As you walk around Hampstead you notice that all the houses are in a similar style: tall with white facades. You can tell why the below design caused so much outrage in the neigbourhood.

Obviously Goldfinger got his way and the building is still standing here today and you can visit it! It is also part of the National Trust. Although the building is 1930's, the interior is mostely 1960's.

Whilst we were in the area, we've visited Keats house as well. Apparenlty he is a famous poet of which the movie Bright Star is based. I had never heard of him to be fair, so if he is unknown to you as well, you're not alone ;)

We had dinner in the Riding House Cafe in Fitzrovia which I HIGHLY recommend!!

Sunday started off with breakfast at Carluccio's (yuuuum) and then a visit to Spencer House in Mayfair. It has links to Princess Diana and Georgina Cavendish (née Spencer), of which a movie was made with Keira Knightley called the Duchess. And to make it even more interesting, Georgina was the duchess of Devonshire and called Chatsworth her home. Chatsworth featured as Pemberley in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice adaption also starring Keira Knightley.

After Spencer House it was time to pop into Hatchards bookshop, sushi for lunch and then to make our way the Imperial War museum in Lambeth. We spent a good 3 hours there before making our way back to Mayfair to have afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason. A once in a life time experience. Extremely delicious, but also quite posh x)

Monday I started an hour early so I had more time to grab some lunch with my parents before they returned home. This week has flown by oO

Oh, and Thursday night I went to Combat Sabers Academy and picked up my training where I left it off ^^ It was so good to see everyone (well mostly everyone) and just have a good old laugh. I felt like I hadn't laughed in so long it truely felt good to use those core muscles again x)

And that is it for this week's update :) Next week is going to be an exciting one. I went to Lacock! Yes I did and it was freaking lovely!:D

As always, thanks for reading!
xo - Sara