If you wander away from the noise of the High Street, you will find a quiet, pedestrian path known as Kensington Church Walk. To many, it is a charming shortcut. To a book lover, it is the hallowed ground of modern literature.

At Fable & Mirth, we are lucky to call this historic corner our home. We have designed this short walking guide to help you discover the giants of literature who once lived and worked just steps from our front door.

1. The Modernist Corner: Ezra Pound & T.S. Eliot

Start your walk right outside our shop. Look up at 10 Kensington Church Walk to see the English Heritage Blue Plaque for Ezra Pound. Pound lived here from 1909 to 1914. His close friend and collaborator, T.S. Eliot, was a frequent visitor to this very path. Eliot lived just a few minutes south at 3 Kensington Court Gardens. Together, these two men reinvented modern poetry right here on our cobblestones.

2. The Tallest Spire & Beatrix Potter

Follow the path toward the towering St Mary Abbots Church. Not only does it have the tallest spire in London, but it was also where Beatrix Potter was married in 1913. It is easy to imagine the creator of Peter Rabbit walking these same stone paths on her wedding day.

3. The Queen of Crime: Agatha Christie

Exit the churchyard and walk three minutes north to 58 Sheffield Terrace. This was the home of Agatha Christie. Within these walls, she wrote some of her most famous mysteries. We like to think she found plenty of inspiration in the quiet backstreets of W8.

4. The Victorian Masterpiece: W.M. Thackeray

Finally, head toward the High Street end of the walk to 16 Young Street. Here, William Makepeace Thackeray wrote Vanity Fair. He famously called his Kensington homes his "principal pleasure."

Local Tip: After finishing your literary pilgrimage, pop back into Fable & Mirth on the corner of the Walk. Whether you are a fan of Christie’s mysteries or Eliot’s poetry, our shop is filled with the kind of curious gifts and unique finds that these writers would have loved to browse.