Bolt Holes
Here are Sherlock’s bolt holes in order of mention from HLV:
1. Parliament Hill - this is part of the larger Hampstead Heath park
2. Camden Locks - just N.E. of Regent’s Park
3. Dagmar Court
4. Blind Greenhouse at Kew Gardens
5. Leaning tomb at Hampstead Cemetery.
6. Molly’s bedroom.
7. Behind Big Ben’s clock face
8. Leinster Gardens
I’ve used Dagmar Court in East London in one of my stories: Magpies Two for Joy, and described it in detail in chapter eight. It’s an abandoned set of garages in the Samuda estate of council housing, south of the Canary Wharf area, on the Isle of Dogs. Read about it here.
It has been great fun over the years using my knowledge (and a lot of Street View) to find places for Sherlock to get a bit of that all-so-valuable “me time” alone.
Some of them are temporary, as is a roof terrace in a property being renovated on Cork Street Mews in Mayfair used in my story Collateral Damage (read about it here), both as a place for Sherlock to re-group and think things through and then later as a place to meet Irene Adler in my story Crossfire (read about that here).
Houses that are being renovated are ideal for night-time usage; no CCTV camera inside, security limited to an alarm that can be easily circumvented. They can’t be stocked, however, which is a drawback because he can only be there at night. Think of these as temporary and time limited. Sherlock would have to vacate early enough to avoid the workers, so not ideal for long periods of Mind Palace work and whatever else he gets up to in a bolthole.
I created another bolthole for Sherlock in Devonshire Squires; this one is in the garage beneath the apartment block that Greg Lestrade lives in. Read about it here.
But my all-time favourite bolthole that I have created is the one in my story Defrag. This is the one he’s named “Armageddon”. It’s in the space between two office buildings on a street southeast of Kings Cross train station. Read about it here.
Thank you, @torducken_lady, for reminding me of it in your comment over at Ao3.
