Like the Scrooge on Bank Rob Day

East London still seems like such a daunting place in my puny narrow mind. Not because it has so many fantastic secrets to offer, and it does, but because it will take someone like me ages to discover even a third of them. Everything is so spread out. Shoreditch, Faringdon, Hackney, and that's just a fraction of it. And my legs are not what you would call short and stubby. They have taken me places before, and I still believe that they will take me to see the world on other zesty adventures. But there are still so many places to see, so much to discover, and I still now, after many escapades East, will have my eyes glued to my stupid iPhone Google maps like paparazzi to Kate Moss.

But my adventure out to Columbia Road Market last month was so much more than the discovery of another open market. It was yet another daunting realisation that there is more to London than the W11 and W1 postcodes. At least in terms of secrets to discover. That time, when I was wandering down Columbia Road Flower Market, I kept hoping to stumble upon that gem that would prove me wrong again in my assumptions about the East. And that it did. Yet again.

A treasure chest full of jewels, L'Orangerie is that magical place, in which the owner Caroline, a relentless European traveler, manages to bring an ecclectic flavour of European delights into one place. Necklaces, bangles, big fat rings, long chains and vintage pieces of furniture and knick knacks alike, you'll feel like the Scrooge on bank rob day. You'll want to take it all, all of it. And then you'll bathe in it, like there is no happier moment in life.

    

 

As you walk in, you'll find yourself ducking under dangling tree branches and bopping oranges. You'll suddenly smell perfumes and fragrances from Spain, Italy and Portugal, which will then magically turn into much cooler scents from the pine trees of northern Europe. You'll hear things scintillate as you slip your fingers through them, play with them and try them on. First make your way to Columbia Road Market if you haven't already. Then, step into a world of all things magical at L'Orangerie. You'll want it all. And you can, it's affordable. It's East London.