We stayed at Sue & John’s place from 5th to 10th August (although we didn’t meet either of them), which was possibly one of the hottest weeks of the ongoing heatwave that had started in London (& most of the UK) several weeks earlier.
Having arrived from Montreal with our 3-year old & my 10-year old step-daughter, where we have very efficient air-cooling systems during the summer months, we were really shocked that in an upper floor property of an older house in Crouch End, there were no fans available during the first three extremely hot, stuffy, airless nights. It was actually untenable trying to get to sleep during such humid conditions. When I requested a couple of fans as soon as possible for our basic comfort needs, we were advised that there were none available anywhere (my Mum who also lives in the UK had found some available online just the week before our arrival). We were quite distressed having to put our girls to sleep in such a hot upper-floor room with no air circulation & none of us slept well for three nights, which hugely impacted our holiday time & precious first days in London. I would have hugely appreciated a respectful ‘heads up’ from the hosts to advise us of this situation, as with young children to think about as well as our precious vacation time, I would have greatly valued the opportunity to seek an alternative accommodation option.
That said, under normal weather conditions, the flat is a pleasant place to stay with its eclectic mix of furnishings & crockery and Crouch End was lovely with lots of great supermarkets, coffee shops, bakeries etc. The bed in the master bedroom was a little hard for our taste & it is not the most easy place to access Central London from, so be prepared to use buses, the underground & your feet a fair bit...or get an Uber account! We also appreciated the initial bit of food shopping that Tony, Sue & John’s representative, kindly did for us to get us started.