Highgate Cemetery.

When my love came down to London to see where I'm living nowadays, we visited the amazing Highgate Cemetery in the north-west of the city, not far from me.

The images above were taken during a tour of the West Cemetery - the older side, where a guided tour is compulsory, and very much worth the while (£5 students, £7 standard ticket).

A visit to Hightgate was the one concrete thing on our agenda for the weekend - which may make us seem (not unjustiably) morbid, but was mostly because he had spent a long time researching the vampire sightings of the 1970s which purportedly took place there. There's also a rumour that Bram Stoker took some inspiration for Dracula from the atmosphere of the Highgate catacombs.

I would recommend a visit to Highgate to anyone. It is unlike anywhere I have ever been. Established in 1839, it's a Victorian landscaped cemetery, and the older West side is a wild, overgrown and ornate space. Some of the gravestones are so elaborate, and the guide had several stories about them for us on the hour-long walk around the cemetery.

Words feel a bit clumsy to describe what it was like beyond the gates - it's a little like stepping back in time, a little like entering a dark fairytale. The atmosphere is totally enthralling - and all I can do is recommend a visit if you're in London.

It's a little off the tourist trail - but arguably all the more enchanting for that.

Sunday Soundtrack.

Scène d'amour - Vertigo OST - Bernard Herman

Mina - Dracula OST - Wojciech Kilar

A couple of pieces for a very cold January evening.

It may well end up being a snowy Sunday night, and a white start to the week.

A Long-Awaited Trip to Whitby.

I first read Bram Stoker's Dracula when I was 12; needless to say, I had been wanting to visit Whitby for quite a while. Whitby Abbey & St. Mary's Church were just as atmospheric and amazing as I had always hoped for.

Gravestones eaten away by the sea breezes on the cliff top. If I had to choose a single favourite moment from the whole day, it would be standing among these mysterious and sad stones, looking out over the sea. It was almost surreal, finally being where some of my favourite scenes from Stoker's novel were set.

The Dracula Experience. Which I had heard so much about and was so excited for.

While wonderfully tacky, it was also genuinely scary, thanks to an actor dressed as The Count who leapt out at me from the shadows and left my legs shaking for about half an hour...

I was disappointed that they didn't have any teapots left though (I loved the idea of a Dracula teapot - so incredibly incongruous and ridiculous).

Add to this much wandering through cobbled streets wishing I could afford the amazing jet jewelry, and eating some of the best fish and chips I have ever tasted, as well as typically English moody weather... And you have the fulfillment of many of my wishes.