Shearwater Drive, Crested Court, NW9

A one-bedroom ground-floor apartment at Crested Court, Shearwater Drive, in Hendon, NW9, extending to 498 sq.ft, with a private terrace running the full width of the plan, a separate laundry room and an allocated parking space in a marked bay outside. Crested Court is a purpose-built block of red-brown brick rising to around six storeys, its elevation set with dark-framed windows and projecting balconies behind glass balustrades, and a full-height glazed stair tower beside the communal entrance. Hendon station, on Thameslink, is the nearer of the area's two, with services into central London; Hendon Central, on the Northern line, lies a little further. In our opinion, this is one of the better-resolved one-bedroom apartments in the area, and the laundry room in particular is something few homes of this size can offer.

The front door opens to a hall from which every room is reached. The open-plan living room, 21'4" x 12'3" at its widest, is laid with large-format gloss tiles in a pale stone tone beneath rows of recessed downlighters, and in the far corner a white-framed glazed door opens onto the terrace. The kitchen occupies the end wall nearest the hall and returns into the room as a peninsula, keeping the cooking apart from the living space without closing it off. White, flat-fronted, handleless units sit above and below a dark slate-effect worktop that rises to form the splashback, with a four-zone ceramic hob, a concealed extractor, a stainless steel single oven and a dishwasher; the sink, with a chrome mixer tap, is set into the peninsula return.

The bedroom, 9'7" x 11'3", has pale carpet underfoot and a tall white-framed window onto the terrace, with an opening top light and an obscured lower pane for privacy. A built-in wardrobe with white sliding doors runs along the wall beside it. Next door, the laundry room houses the washing machine and the boiler, with further storage alongside. The bathroom, 7'7" x 8'1" at its widest, is finished in stone-effect tiling, taken to full height around the bath, which has a thermostatic shower behind a hinged glass screen. A wall-hung WC and a wall-hung basin on a two-drawer vanity sit beneath a mirrored cabinet, beside a chrome ladder towel radiator. Heating is central throughout.

The terrace is private to the apartment and measures 5'8" x 17'3", laid in pale tiles that continue the floor inside and bounded by a low brick wall with a metal rail. Both the living room and the bedroom open or look onto it, so it serves the whole of the plan. Beyond the building, the communal garden is laid to lawn around raised brick planters edged with timber bench seating, with low clipped hedging, enclosed by the surrounding blocks and a timber slatted fence at the far end. The apartment is offered to let furnished at £1,750 per calendar month.

EPC Rating: C