AN AFTERNOON IN CAMDEN - FROM THE MARKET TO THE LOCK

When I think of Camden, five things pop to mind immediately; Amy Winehouse, night clubs, cocktails, shopping & food. Thankfully, I was able to experience some of these on my recent random London venture to Camden Market with my little bro Kieron.

For anyone who is not familiar with this part of London, Camden is well known for it's culture and street vibes by day, and it's liveliness by night. If you are visiting Camden in the day time, Camden Town tube station (Northern Line) will probably be a good starting point for your venture as it is a short walk from all of the main bars, restaurants, shops, stalls and of course, Camden Market.

Moments after stepping off of the train, before even reaching the main shops/markets, you can find all kinds of talented souls earning their living by interacting with people in the busy streets. We came across a few very interesting characters - from Alice in Wonderland impersonators, to Star Wars illusionists, to street artists who spend their days outdoors, whatever the weather, hustling hard to earn their pennies. You can't help but stop and admire their work ethic & determination. Of course, one type of 'street hustler' I have always admired are the street artists. We stopped for ages to watch a graffiti artist who sat in silence on the ground on the busy high street creating beautiful landscapes based on London's famous monuments and landmarks. He didn't talk and didn't make eye contact with anyone – it was like he was sitting by himself in his own little art studio and we watched as he quickly sprayed multiple pieces of paper with colourful back drops then switched from piece to piece adding finely detailed silhouettes with black spray paint and stencils. This of course, summoned a huge crowd, some of which even put their coats down, sat next to or opposite him and just watched in awe whilst they ate their lunch. Not even the flashing cameras or wander-struck kids distracted him enough to look up.

Whilst deciding where we wanted to stop for lunch, we continued to walk down the strip which heads towards the most vibrant parts of Camden Town. So many people (including us) stopped to photograph the weird and wonderful 3-D shop fronts. One shop in particular had a huge leather buckled boot sticking out of it marking the entrance – a simple yet very effective way of letting people know what to expect inside the shop (it was a leather boot store).

The place we chose to eat in was a cute looking American style diner on the corner of the high street (you can read my review here) and after this, it was on with the wandering. Next stop: the market!

Although we didn't buy much, I was tempted to buy almost everything! One thing about Camden Market is that pretty much everything is really well priced and a lot of stall/shop owners will be willing to haggle if it means they won't lose out on a sale, but they do drive a hard bargain so you need to be confident and persistent in your haggling! Some of the stalls which particularly took my fancy were:

Vera Black: The first stall I fell in love with in Camden. I do have a little boho in me deep down and I'm a sucker for a beautiful dream catchers (which they had plenty of). I actually have a dream catcher painted on my bedroom wall just above my bed, a dream catcher hanging by my window and am soon to get a dream catcher tattoo, you could say I'm a tiny bit obsessed... It's a miracle how I managed to keep my purse in my handbag because there were so many pretty things (again, mainly dream catchers) that I was itching to buy. I may well return to this stall when I re-decorate my bedroom in the near future. Cheeky tip: I did find that when looking up their website, some of the things I saw on the stall were a little cheaper so you may want to look there first if you are interested in their pieces.
Natural Rocks & Pebbles stall: I LOVE beautiful rocks & stones. Smooth stones, extremely round pebbles, crystals, birth stones, etc. Not sure why. I just do. And this stall had loads of beautiful real rocks, stones and pebbles which I just fell in love with. Sadly, I didn't catch the name of the stall but these rocks/stones are quite popular and if necessary, you could always buy some online.
The Camera Hut: OBVIOUSLY, this appealed to me. It was so interesting to see all of the different kinds of vintage cameras this stall had to offer – including the old school instant cameras. They also have vintage camera accessories, such as straps.
Novelty Wood: I could have cried when I realised that I could not find any of these beautiful cases for my phone (iPhone 6 Plus)! They have the most uniquely carved patterns on the backs of the cute wooden cases, including the perfect world map and again..another dream catcher (which I have been looking for for ages).. The stall was actually unattended when we stopped so I couldn't ask anyone if there were cases specifically for my phone :( Totally had my purse to hand this time ready to buy.. Maybe next time.
The Turkish Lamp Shop – Last but not least! This shop made my day. Although, the prices in this shop are a lot more than “market prices”, once you visit, you will see why! I've always loved Turkish lamps – so elegant and beautiful, and they had loads of different styles, sizes and colours to choose from. To be honest, Kieron and I spent more time practically drooling over how gorgeous the lamps were and taking photos of them.

Other stalls/shops that we quite enjoyed in the market were:

Art work stall (painting, mixed media, pop art, etc)
Handmade jewellery stalls
Handmade jam and honey stalls
Handmade soap and bath stalls
Handmade candles stalls
Vintage CD/record style clock stalls
Food stalls

We ended our wander with a walk along Camden Lock – a part of the trip that we didn't actually plan. We were so amazed an the food court (dozens of food and drink stalls serving food from all over the world with the most AMAZING smells), we found ourselves outside and drifting toward the water before realising we were a little lost so we just followed the canal. Now, as briefly mentions earlier, Amy Whinehouse lovers will really appreciate a little stroll along this Lock as there's lots of beautiful and inspiring Amy art work along the canal walls. It's nice to see how much she was/is loved and missed in her home town. There was also a lot of other art work and graffiti along this walk that were slightly less inspiring but art non-the-less..

All in all, this little day trip was quite refreshing and just goes to show that I don't always need to travel far from home to create a new adventure. Sometimes it's nice to just be a tourist in my own town...