High

With its parks, monuments and gloriously sinuous river, London is a city of sensational views and vistas.

Incomparable among them (in my opinion) is the vast southern panorama to be seen from Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath.

I've been going here for years, but the sudden opening out of the landscape, from this not exactly vertiginous hilltop, never fails to surprise and delight. Take an overseas visitor with you, and I guarantee that they will subsequently refer to the experience as one of the highlights of their time in the capital.

This picture (snapped today) shows the latest addition to the skyline - directly to the right of the central figure.

It's The Shard, a skyscraper under construction near London Bridge. When completed in 2012 it will be the tallest building in the European Union.

Not surprisingly Parliament Hill has featured in innumerable movies.

If you've seen Notes on a Scandal, the seat to the right of the picture may prompt an involuntary frisson.

Bequest stop

Within a couple of miles of the centre of our teeming capital city is a sylvan retreat of woods, meadows and ponds: Hampstead Heath.

Occasionally the HB has the privilege of acting as a tour guide to overseas friends who are visiting London.

Hampstead, both the village and the Heath, never fail to impress. On a clear day there is nothing to beat the view of the whole of London from Parliament Hill.

It's a genuine 'earth has not anything to show more fair' moment.

Here Mr G is posing in front of Kenwood House on the northern edge of the Heath.

Once the home of the Guinness family, it was bequeathed to the nation as a free-entry art gallery housing the family's far-from-insignificant collection. Small but unquestionably exquisite: there's a perfect Vermeer and one of the greatest of the Rembrandt self-portraits - and much, more more.