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.