Sutton House and Breaker's Yard

The conventionally bleak image of Hackney is joyously usurped by this charming National Trust property that comes with genial staff, a tranquil tea-room and second-hand books and plants for sale. Originally built in 1535 for a Tudor diplomat, the three-storey building subsequently became home to a 17th-century silk merchant, a Huguenot family with 12 children, a Victorian lawyer, a local church institute and a bunch of 1980s squatters – a fascinating story that is revealed room by room on a self-guided tour.

Read More