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March 25, 2007
MARK ANSTEAD
Actor Sean Bean, 47, is best known for playing Bernard Cornwell's Richard
Sharpe and for his role as Boromir in The Lord Of The Rings.
He also stars in the new Nick Love film Outlaw, about a gang of vigilantes
in London. He lives alone in Belsize Park, North London.
I've lived in Belsize Park for nine years. I used to be based nearby when I was
a drama student at RADA and I remember the area quite fondly from those days.
There were four of us sharing a flat and when we finished we all went our
different ways. I wanted to stay living here but I couldn't afford it after all,
there had been four of us paying the rent.
I always wanted to return and have my own home here. When I saw my
house for sale in 1998 it appealed to me because it was private but
spacious. It has a nice garden and the interior layout is very open-plan.
The style wasn't normal terrace or regular house; the architecture was a bit
different, a bit individual.
It's a mixed community here and you get some areas that are very nice and
some that are only average (like anywhere in London). I'm lucky because
I have some pretty good neighbours and over the years I've made some good
friends here.
I get a lot of enjoyment from pottering about in the garden. At the moment
I'm digging a pond to attract frogs and newts. I like to do much of the work
myself, although I have a gardener who comes in to help me every now and again.
Gardening is the main way I spend my time when I'm not working there's always
something that needs doing. I've planted a few trees because I've always
been interested in wildlife and I've made the garden friendly to animals by
planting lots of shrubs and the kind of plants that attract them.
I'm quite close to the M1 so transport is relatively easy, but driving around
Belsize Park is always busy.
The roads are narrow and it's very hard to park.
It's a pain getting in and out of London, paying the congestion charge or
using your mobile phone to pay the meters. I think it's such a hassle.
If I have to go somewhere in London, most of the time I will just get a cab.
I don't like some of the changes I've seen here. There used to be a nice
pub called the Belsize Tavern a proper pub you could go into on Saturday
and read the papers with a pint. They bought the post office next door and
turned it into a poncey wine bar serving Thai food.
There's not a pub around Belsize Park any more and I think that has
affected the character of the area. There's another nearby called The
Washington which is not bad, but it's a shame about the other one.
It's amazing how much that sort of thing can affect people meeting up and
socialising. |
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