What's a good bit of London to potter around?

[Greenbeanmcgee]

I don't want to go to Central London. At least not the touristy bits. Nothing wrong with touristy things btw, I'm just not in the mood for them right now and I want somewhere slightly quieter.

Somewhere with some book shops(or charity shops that sell books), nice cafes and restaurants(Not looking for Michelin star) and independent shops that I could just potter around over 4 or 5 days. A small museum or similar place of interest would be a bonus.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA

Muswell Hill would be my first choice second choice Hampstead.

Greenwich is lovely but is still touristy.
East Dulwich has lots of restaurants/cafes/bars and charity shops with books. It also has Dulwich Park and Dulwich Picture Gallery (England's first purpose built art gallery) and Hornimans Museum is nearby. Crystal Palace with plenty of restaurants, a bookshop, art gallery and the park with dinosaurs and lake is not far.

Second the Horniman! Perfect museum for a pottering day

East Dulwich is nice. But. Same as Hampstead I guess imo, these are pleasant places to bimble around if you're already there. I mean they're lovely and all but I don't know that they're worth making a special trip to from outside of London, especially if that trip is going to cost you hundreds of £££, which it will, on train tickets and hotels and such.

Once you're bored of Di chi mind go to East Sheen, charity shop heaven or across the bridge to st Margaret's

Totally agree with this even though I said Hampstead above - I didn’t mean the high street. It’s also rammed with traffic, and also tourists making day trips!

Browse around Portobello market and Notting Hill then a stroll through Kensington gardens past the palace to Kensington high street and the Design Museum and Holland Park

All three are lovely. If you go for Richmond it's quite nice to start in Twickenham. Church Road has some lovely little browsing shops. You can walk from there along the river to Richmond. There's a ferry that takes you across the river to the right side (I think it's £1 or £2).

Kew is in very easy reach and there's some nice restaurants there as well as the iconic gardens. Sebastian's is a nice mid-price restaurant for dinner in Richmond or if you're going for something more fancy there's the Bingham, the Ivy or if you have ££££, Scott's.

the OP said 4-5 days - in which case i would go with Hampstead because you can also within same vicinity have Primrose Hill/Belsize Park, Regents Park, Camden (if you want to) and then Hampstead (old windy streets and houses, great pubs) and the Heath. All actually walkable between if you are up for it, which huge range of interesting architecture and hills.
There's a full 4 days there - none of the other options have as much scope for more than 1-2 days each IMO

Similar to what @Barbecuebeans says! If you do Richmond then also have a potter about Twickenham and a short walk into St Margaret's to have a breakfast or lunch in Zorans!

Ok, we are not supposed to let North Londoners know about this but if you go to Greenwich and walk up Croims Hill you’ll find a beautiful little house that is the Fan museum. It is exactly as it says - a museum of fans but some of them have been painted by great artists. At the back is an orange row where you can have coffee and cake. It’s a very charming, calm, quiet spot opposite the park.

But don’t tell everyone😉

Orangerie!