Anya Waddington looks in on Karl Marx as she is blown away in windy Hampstead. Once the home of highwaymen, these days you are more likely to bump into a celebrity or literary figure while wandering the leafy lanes of Hampstead and Highgate or stomping across the Heath.

Wellingtons on, pack your kite and grab some bread for the ducks.
First stop Highgate Cemetery.
Start at Archway Station (Northern Line) and head up Highgate Road (either a 10 minute brisk walk or catch a bus – nos. 271, 210, 143) to Waterlow Park. Walk through the park for 5 minutes to the lower exit which is adjacent to the cemetery gates. The 37 acres of overgrown woodland are scattered with obelisks, catacombs and vaults. The cemetery is divided in two (East and West) open from 10am on weekdays and 11am weekends. The older, ivy-clad, West cemetery can only be entered by guided tour and children must be 8 years or over, but the East Cemetery is great for a ramble. Here, amongst others you will find the graves of Karl Marx, George Eliot, Paul Foot and Henry Moore. Exit on to Swains Lane and cross Highgate Road on to Hampstead Heath. Bear right up the Heath, keeping Highgate Ponds, including the model boating pond on your right. Keep walking until you reach Kenwood House ahead of you. Here, the upmarket canteen-style café at Kenwood serves delicious lunch. There is free entry to the house so you can pop in to see at least one of the famous Vermeers. If not, admire the Henry Moore sculpture outside. After lunch roly poly (at least the children can!) down the hill (with Kenwood behind you) and continue to Wood Pond. Cross the bridge into the wooded area, bear right following the high ground and keep walking. The heath is full of great climbing trees but there is a particularly good fallen down tree en route perfect for adventures and clambering over. Come out of the wooded area on to Parliament Hill – the view is spectacular. Have fun flying your kite then cross over, taking the path through the mixed bathing ponds, and exit Hampstead Heath onto Well Walk. Stroll down this pretty Hampstead road past one of Constable’s Houses to Burgh House. This grade one listed early eighteen century house is a great stop for a traditional tea. From Burgh House cross over on to Flask Walk and wander past the boutique shops and galleries, turn right on to Hampstead High Street and follow up to Hampstead Station (Northern Line). And home exhausted
to bed