Neighbourhood guide · NW3
Hampstead
The Heath at the end of the road: ponds, Kenwood and a village high street.
A village on a hill, four miles from Oxford Circus. Hampstead has kept its Georgian lanes, its bookshops and its Heath, and most people who move here stay for decades.
Living in Hampstead
A village that stayed a village
The streets climb from Finchley Road to the Heath, and the higher you go the older the houses get. Church Row is still almost entirely Georgian. Around it the Victorians built red-brick villas on generous plots, and in the 1890s Arts and Crafts architects added houses with deep porches and long gardens.
Daily life happens on foot. The high street has a butcher, bookshops, a cinema and a small market at the community centre. At weekends the Heath fills up: the bathing ponds, the walk up Parliament Hill and the long lawn in front of Kenwood House.
Buyers here are usually families who want a garden and good schools, and who are happy to trade a short commute for a quieter evening. Houses rarely come to market openly, and many change hands through agents who know the owners.
Streets we know
Four of our favourites
I
Frognal
Large detached houses on the western slope, with some of the deepest gardens in NW3.
II
Church Row
An almost complete Georgian terrace leading to St John-at-Hampstead.
III
Well Walk
Where Constable lived, a few minutes from the ponds.
IV
Flask Walk
A narrow lane of cottages and shops, closed to cars, off the high street.
On the map
Hampstead, close up
The houses we are selling here and the places our buyers ask about first: parks, shops, stations and the odd museum.
Good to know
Before you move
The Holly Bush, up the steps from Heath Street.
A lane of shops off the high street.
For sale and sold
Homes in Hampstead
Off market
Not everything is listed
Tell us what you are looking for in Hampstead and we will call you before a house comes to market.
From the journal
Stories from Hampstead
Keep exploring
Other neighbourhoods
Selling in Hampstead?
We know who is looking here
A partner visits, walks every floor and gives you a written valuation within five working days.