It is the hilly part of north-west Loughton closest to Epping Forest and characterised by steep hills, weatherboarded houses, narrow lanes and high holly hedges.
There are many architecturally significant properties in this part of Loughton, including 18th-century and Arts & Crafts houses as well as Victorian homes ranging from small terraced cottages to large mansions.
Some of her fiction is set in Epping Forest and Loughton, and the name Little Cornwall, occurs in ‘The Face of Trespass’, first published in 1974.
Part of the last novel she published during her lifetime, The Girl Next Door, is also set in Little Cornwall (and on Spareleaze-Tycehurst Hills nearby).
York Hill is also the site of medieval pottery kilns; Potters Close was named to reflect that fact.