Regent’s Park is the one major exception to London’s careful avoidance of large-scale civic planning. Architect John Nash, the designer of Buckingham Palace who conceived the startling scheme for the Prince Regent in 1811, designed each of the grand terraces of houses around the perimeter of the park, the Outer Circle, to appear like a single palace set in a glorious garden landscape.

The Crown Estate still owns all the freeholds of the graceful stucco terraces, and the area benefits from its careful management. Whilst many of the terraces have been converted into flats, some remain as houses. Those in Hanover Terrace benefit from their own private west-facing gardens. Nearby, Cornwall Terrace, the oldest of the terraces on the western side of the park, has just been the subject of a multi-million pound restoration programme to create 9 new homes, the most expensive of which sold recently for in excess of £100 million. There are also a scattering of superb villas within the park itself.