Spy on your neighbours at Open House.

This weekend is Open House in London. Perfectly placed in the calendar to ease us from summery weekends into more wrapped-up pursuits, it's a great chance to have a nose around London buildings large and small, famed and little-known. And all for free.

The brochure is a mere £3 to download from the Open House website and is handily arranged by area. So, you can stick to your own yard or venture to a part of town you don't know as well.

I'm going local this year, as a private house that I always try to spy on in the next street to mine is open: Cypher House. There are lots of private residences open actually, so it's a great way to nose around the houses in your neighbourhood you look at and think, 'I wish I lived there'.

[Having just seen the above pictures of Cypher House, the interior looks kind of bland and could do with some added texture. But I love the glass blocks and layout. It reminds me of the indoor outdoor mid-century modern homes that I love. If that pebbled courtyard area was a lap pool we we would be talking near-death envy.]

I might pop down to St Pancras for the Isambard Kingdom Brunel walk. And I wouldn't mind a nosy at the Foster+Partners Studio, either.

[Download the brochure for Open House events here. Cypher House pictures with thanks to Christopher Phillips.]