Hampstead Chauffeur Service

Up on a hill above the rest of London sits Hampstead, the Heath spreading north and east, the village clustered round Hampstead High Street, Heath Street and the lanes running off them: Flask Walk, Church Row, Well Walk. At the top of the Heath stands Kenwood House, and Parliament Hill turns to look back over the entire city. Residential, literary, deliberately unhurried, and the people we carry mostly live here rather than visit.

No streets we work in regularly are tighter than these: steep gradients, cars parked along both sides, and turns a long-wheelbase vehicle cannot physically make. Through routes are Heath Street and Fitzjohn's Avenue, and both queue badly at school times. Beside the old inn, Spaniards Road pinches down to single file, where traffic takes it in turn. Resident permit bays own the kerbside. Hampstead lies well outside the congestion charge zone, which keeps a local journey simple.

Most journeys from Hampstead end up elsewhere. An evening in the West End, dinner in Marylebone or Mayfair, theatre in the centre, and the daily grind to schools and offices further south. Restaurants in the village are plentiful and the cinema much loved, both of which throw up short local runs on a wet night. Airport traffic runs steadily too, since NW3 sits awkwardly for public transport the moment luggage enters the picture.

Point the car north and Luton falls out as the obvious airport, 40 to 70 minutes up the M1. Heathrow asks 45 to 80 minutes, and it behaves best if you go round on the North Circular and pick up the M4, rather than driving through the middle. Stansted sits at 55 to 90 minutes, A1 then M11. Gatwick is the punishing one: 70 to 115 minutes. Ten to twenty-five minutes south lies St Pancras and the Eurostar, so a Paris morning that begins in Hampstead is a comfortable thing indeed.