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Many visitors are interested in Emery Walker’s House because of Walker’s connection to William Morris and the impressive collection of Morris wallpaper, furnishings and textiles that adorn every room. In the Dining Room is a 17th Century chair from Morris’s library at his countryside dwelling, Kelmscott Manor (you can read about my trip to that house in the Cotswolds here), which was given to Walker after Morris’s death. The cushion on the chair was embroidered by William Morris’s daughter, May Morris, who lived for a time next door to the Walkers at number 8 Hammersmith Terrace. The fact that the house has changed so little over time makes such remarkable figures from history more alive; it is easy to look out the window and picture Cobden-Sanderson surreptitiously throwing the Doves Type into the Thames from Hammersmith Bridge, or to envisage Walker and Morris bent over designs for Kelmscott Press at the Drawing Room table.

(you can listen to our conversation here), so I’m delighted that she’s agreed to share her Secret Seven London with Miranda’s Notebook readers. Holland Park is a wonder in its own right, its woodland paths make you feel like the city is very far away indeed, but it’s the Peace Garden that calmed my mind in those early weeks. Utterly soothing and lovingly maintained, it’s made even more brilliant by the fact that Holland Park’s Daunt Books is just a short walk away. I adore the Hackney location for its proximity to E5 Bakehouse (home of the best sourdough in London) and London Fields Lido, and the wares it contains – upstairs is a ceramics studio so there’s always something new to admire.

Inspired by this week’s Tea & Tattle episode, where I’m chatting with one of my very favourite floral photographers, Georgianna Lane (you can listen to our conversation here), I took an early morning walk in London to seek out signs of spring. The spell of warm weather has meant that spring has sprung a little early, and I was delighted to discover daffodils already blooming in Green Park and St James’s Park

I’m so pleased to announce a new project of mine, London by the Book, which is a monthly newsletter that explores an area of London through a work of fiction. I know so many of my readers are London lovers as well as literary anglophiles, so I think you’ll enjoy these monthly letters