The Magnolia season is here and it has exploded all over the streets of London…

This is one of my favourite streets in London – St Luke’s Mews in Notting Hill. It’s so pretty, quiet & quaint with cobbles, bicycles and pastel coloured cottages. It’s also where Kiera Knightley lives in ‘Love Actually’… And to top it off, ‘Ripe Tomato‘, a gorgeous family-run Italian restaurant, is at the end of the mews. Spag bol, anyone?

Have you been to Polpo? I loved stumbling upon this old favourite restaurant as I wandered the streets of Soho last week… Polpo is a bàcaro. This is a Venetian word to describe a humble restaurant serving simple food and wine.. so it seems to be a remarkable coincidence that the Venetian painter Canaletto once lived here in 1697! (As stated on the blue plaque…) The food is simply delicious, the atmosphere is buzzy and you can sit, eat and chat for hours with friends over wonderful plates of food and a glass (or two!) of wine… I love it!

Fantastic Mr Fox.. You can find him prowling around Beak Street in Soho…and a few other parts of London too – he’s on The Prodigy‘s new album cover and has been places cleverly all over town in some hidden spots… Have you spotted him?

! Here are some flowers for you all, straight off Ronnie’s cart in Berwick Street Market – one of London’s oldest markets in the heart of Soho

The back streets of Chelsea are like an enchanted labyrinth of prettiness and storybooks… I just adore this street corner and the gorgeous old lamppost is the cherry on my Chelsea cake!

Welcome to Cereal Killer Café on Brick Lane in the bustling heart of East London! They sell over 120 different types of cereal from around the world, 30 different varieties of milk and 20 different toppings. They serve up nostalgic sugar rushy bowls of cereal for breakfast, lunch or dinner in their crazy, wonderful café.. It’s like being 9 all over again!

Last week I found myself in Hampstead in North London – a place I have visited many, many times over the years as it’s not far from where I grew up… This is Flask Walk – a tiny, pretty almost-alleyway, decked with bunting and flanked my cafés, boutique florists, antiques and bookshops, with a wonderful pub at the top of it… And what a gloriously sunny day it was! Hello sunshine!

This is the very pretty Lancashire Court in Mayfair, where I was visiting Hush & experiencing their Gin & Jam Afternoon Tea! Do visit this magical little part of town if you get the chance, sip a coffee in the courtyard…and definitely put their afternoon tea, (including the Earl Grey Créme Brûlée!) on your list!

Sometimes London is too pretty for words! I love this little mews off the quiet streets of Holland Park… And the graphic street art on the wall makes for a great contrast to the sweet white cottages…

I walk past these houses in Finsbury Park every day… Big bay windows, a stoop to sit on and a bicycle ready and waiting to pedal you off on a London adventure… We live our ordinary (or maybe not so ordinary) lives in an extraordinary city – lucky us!

And finally.. this happened yesterday and I had to snap it to share it with the world! London is Springing into life and I am feeling fizzy in anticipation of a wonderful warm Summer! My perfect picture for Easter Monday – I couldn’t have wished for more.