Highgate sits at the top of the northern heights and has never forgotten it. The village has the Flask, the pond, the lanes full of Georgian houses, and the faintly self-satisfied air of a place that knows exactly where it is on the map.
The cemetery is the reason to come. The East Cemetery is free and contains George Eliot, Michael Faraday, and enough Victorian memorial sculpture for a thesis. The West has Marx under a large bronze head and requires a tour — book ahead if that's your objective. Highgate Wood follows: ancient woodland, proper woodland, the kind that makes you forget there's a Tube station at the other end.
