Elizabeth Hurley's My London

The actress and model goes for drinks at Blakes and drags Patrick Cox to parties...

Home is
London and Gloucestershire. I live in South West London, on a street lined with cherry trees.

What advice would you give a tourist coming to London?
Get on a Boris bike. Our parks are beautiful - I spend hours in Kensington Gardens.

Have you ever had a run-in with a London policeman?
I love all policemen, as I'm as good as gold. They do a great job and I'm totally on their side - unless they were taking bribes from News International, in which case they should be bitterly ashamed. I hope they all know it was thanks to me the law was changed and they can now eat in public places in their uniforms. True fact.

What's the first thing you do when you arrive in London?
I relax in the bath - it's the first thing I do whenever I arrive anywhere. Then I go to my local deli and a bookshop.

Which London shops do you rely on?
I buy a lot online - you kind of have to living in the country - so when I'm in London it's heavenly to nip out to the shops when necessary. I'm obsessed with Harrods as their personal shoppers are superb; Luigi's deli and Wyndham House, the butchers, both on Fulham Road; and Rob Van Helden (in SW8) for flowers.

What's your earliest London memory?
My parents brought us on a day-trip here in 1976; we fed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, went to Madame Tussauds and lost my sister at a Tube station.

What do you most like doing with your best friend Patrick Cox?
I drag Patrick out as my date to lots of events - he comes round to do up my dress and pick out my shoes. And to tell me to hurry up.

What would you do if you were Mayor for a day?
I'd ban all trucks from Central London between 8am and 6pm. I've never seen a delivery van in Beverly Hills - they must do it in the middle of the night.

What's the best meal you've had in London?
I only go to a few London restaurants: Murano, Le Caprice, Locanda Locatelli, China Tang, Riva, Zafferano and, if I'm in a silly mood, C London. I very rarely go out for lunch - if I do, I go to San Lorenzo or Lucio.

What's your biggest extravagance?
Builders. I have housefuls of them driving me demented the entire time.

Do you have a recurring dream?
Every actor has nightmares about stepping out on stage and not knowing their lines. Even though I haven't done theatre for years, I can still wake up sweating from this one.

What's the best piece of advice you've been given?
My grandmother told me to sleep with the window open. She also added 'or you'll look peaky like the Germans', but she'd lost brothers in the war.