Inside three knocked together 18th-century cottages on Blacklands Terrace is the marvellous John Sandoe Books. It’s proudly independent, and its quarterly catalogue is packed with the best recommendations in the literary world. But there are also beautiful botanical books, architectural tomes, pretty prints and notelets. Plus, a picturesque window seat upstairs near the paperbacks, which makes a lovely browsing perch.

Interior designer, antiques dealer and furniture designer Rose Uniacke does a lot. She’s also a trained furniture restorer, gilder and paint lacquer specialist. Her designs (a green-tiled coffee table or hand- turned three-legged oak chair, perhaps) share the purist bones of her antique finds (a rare Venetian glass mirror, Georgian knee-hole desks) – all combining a beautiful play of light and texture.