Nora, sketchbook open in the Burlington Arcade
Honey blonde, hazel eyed, a designer's eye for a seam and a soft spot for champagne.
Available todayDaytime and evening; weekends away by arrangement
- Age
- 26
- Height
- 166 cm · 5 ft 5 in
- Hair
- long honey blonde
- Eyes
- hazel
- Build
- athletic
- Languages
- English
- Based
- Paddington · W2
On Nora
Nora carries a sketchbook the size of a paperback and fills it with other people's sleeves. She is 166 cm of athletic energy, honey blonde hair falling long, with hazel eyes that go straight to the construction of whatever you are wearing, then politely back to your face. She dresses like someone who knows exactly how clothes are built: a wrap dress with a clever seam, a jacket cut an inch shorter than usual, a silk scarf pressed into service as a belt.
Spirited and adventurous, mid twenties, with a warmth that turns a stranger into an old friend by the second glass. English speaking. Fashion design is both her training and her obsession. Her own label is, for now, a notebook of patterns, and she will show you the page she is proudest of. Champagne is the weakness, grower bottles above all. On early Sunday mornings she walks Columbia Road for the flowers and comes home with more stems than she can carry, and a vase count that never quite keeps up.
Her favourite start to an evening near Albemarle Street is a slow walk through the Burlington Arcade, under the glass roof, past the small shops of gloves, cashmere and old silver. She reads the windows with a professional eye, sketches one detail, and then wants a glass of champagne within ten minutes. Nobody has ever talked her out of it, and the beadle at the gate knows her by sight.
Nora lives in Paddington and is often introduced on Albemarle Street, the arcade's near neighbour. Weekends and travel begin from £6,000 and an hour in London is £600, both on rates. Octavia makes the plan through booking.
// Octavia's noteNora is excellent company for a day that runs into the evening: the arcade, a late lunch, a glass somewhere lovely. Three hours at £1,500 is my usual suggestion.
Nora, by the hour
One ladder serves every introduction on Albemarle Privé. Her journey costs nothing inside fare Zones 1 and 2, and Nora receives the fee from you in person on arrival.
| Ref | Length | Fee | Suits | Request |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.01 | One hour60 min | £600 | An aperitif and a first conversation, nothing hurried. | Request |
| R.02 | Ninety minutes90 min | £900 | Room for a second glass and a proper exchange of views. | Request |
| R.03 | Two hours120 min | £1,100 | A short supper nearby, or a private view and a drink after. | Request |
| R.04 | Three hours180 min | £1,500 | Theatre and a late table, or dinner without a watch. | Request |
| R.05 | Dinner date4 hours | £1,800 | The reservation, every course, then the slow walk back. | Request |
| R.06 | Overnight10 hours | £3,000 | Dinner through to the morning coffee. A day of notice helps. | Request |
| R.07 | Weekend awayBy arrangement | from £6,000 | A city weekend or a journey, agreed as one sum in writing. | Request |
Journeys past Zone 2, airport hotels and cancellations: see Rates, terms T.01 to T.08.
As Nora keeps it
She meets you in the arcade, sketchbook under one arm, already delighted by something in a window. Nora walks slowly and talks quickly, pointing out the stitching on a coat, the cut of a glove, the way a good shop arranges its light. It is a lesson in looking, delivered with such enthusiasm that you forget it is a lesson at all. Then comes the champagne, always, and her small ceremony of tasting it before anyone speaks. Dinner is warm and spirited. She tells stories about fittings gone wrong and flower markets at dawn, and asks about your favourite thing you own, and why. Before the bill she may sketch a jacket she thinks you should have on a napkin, and hand it over like a gift.
Three questions for Nora
Their coat. People buy a coat to last, so it shows who they hope to be for the next ten years.
One made by the family that grows the grapes. It tastes of a particular hillside rather than a house style. I find that very romantic.
Too many peonies when they are in season, and one strange stem I cannot name. The strange one always lasts longest.
Notes on Nora
No guest notes published yet.A note appears here only after Octavia has read it: a first name, a month, nothing more. Nothing is ever written on a guest's behalf.
Read by Octavia before it appears · a first name and a month, never more · Nora can have any note taken down
A message for Nora
Already addressed to Nora. Fill in the brackets and send it; Octavia answers every line in one reply.
Hello, I would like to book Nora on [date] at [time] for [duration]. I am staying at [hotel name], and will share the room number on confirmation.
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From The Notebook
- 6 min readBrown's of Albemarle Street, and an evening that begins at the hearthThe hotel on our namesake street has kept its fires lit since the year Victoria came to the throne. Where to meet inside Brown's, how to pace the evening from its door and who to ask for.
- 5 min readAdmission by introduction: an old London habit, and what it means at this houseSome houses accept a guest only on the word of an existing one. Where that habit comes from, what a referral does and does not change, and how this house keeps the principle without closing its door.
Nora, by arrangement
Send a date, an hour and a length. Octavia looks at Nora's diary before anything else and answers in writing, usually within minutes.