Exiting the heath at the Highgate end, I ascend the hill to Highgate Village. This charming hamlet has many beautiful, and expensive houses – some of the highest property prices in England are found here. Pierce Brosnan, Tariq Ali, Julian Barrett have all resided here, and some still do.
There is a church with a red door that looks like a rocket. I took some unsatisfactory photos of it and deleted them – only later do I find it is a significant shrine for pilgrims of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: poet, mystic, philosopher and opium eater.
I lunch at the Highgate Pantry at the summit of Highgate Village. The tea and chilli con carne warm my heart. I sit facing inward although I normally like a view of the street. For once I eat without reading a book or playing with my phone. There is no menu. The selection of pastries, sandwiches, salads, pastas and tasty treats changes with the seasons.
In this small and peaceful pantry tourists come to break their day and locals get their takeaway before idling back to their labors – be they real estate, carpentry, bookselling, craftwork or being a multi-millionaire.
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