Nora, flowers on the Basin

Nora usually turns up with something from a flower stall, a single stem of ranunculus or a paper cone of sweet williams, because she cannot pass one without stopping. She has long honey blonde hair, warm hazel eyes and an athletic, sun-kissed look at 166 cm, and she dresses in resort glamour even in the middle of London: a bright red wrap dress, gold sandals, oversized sunglasses pushed up into her hair. She looks permanently fresh off a flight from somewhere warm.

Spirited and adventurous, Nora says yes to plans and then improves them. She is warm, a little mischievous and enormous fun, with fluent English and a habit of sketching dresses on napkins while she talks. Fashion design is her daytime passion, and she will critique a hemline, a sleeve or a colour with real flair. Champagne is her ritual for celebrating even the smallest victories, and a pre-dawn flower market is her idea of adventure, arriving in the dark to fill her arms with whatever is in season.

Paddington is where she lives, and she has a soft spot for its watery corner. An evening with her might open with a glass of champagne aboard Darcie & May Green, the brightly painted barges moored on Paddington Basin, then drift along the towpath toward Little Venice as the canal lights come on. Dinner can be somewhere with a garden, and afterwards she happily strolls back past the stucco crescents to the Hilton by the station or the Royal Lancaster overlooking the park.

Nora lives in Paddington and often meets guests in Marylebone and Kensington. Glance at the rates page, then reach her through booking with a day's notice.