London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [66]
Turn into Derry Street or Young Street and enter Kensington Square, one of the most complete 17th-century residential squares in London. Holland Park is about ¾ mi farther west; both Leighton House and 18 Stafford Terrace are nearby as well.
Top of Chapter | London Maps Contents
EXPLORING KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
Albert Memorial.
This gleaming, neo-Gothic shrine to Prince Albert created by George Gilbert Scott epitomizes the Victorian era. Albert’s grieving widow, Queen Victoria, had this elaborate confection (including a 14-foot bronze statue of the prince) erected on the spot where his Great Exhibition had stood a decade before his early death, from typhoid, in 1861. | Kensington Gore, Hyde Park, Kensington | SW7 2AP.
Fodor’s Choice | 18 Stafford Terrace.
Filled with delightful Victorian and Edwardian antiques, fabrics, and paintings, the home of Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne in the 1870s is one of the most charming 19th-century London houses extant—small wonder that it was used in Merchant Ivory’s A Room with a View. An Italianate house, it was the scene for society parties when Anne Messel was in residence in the 1940s. Being Kensington, there’s a royal connection, too: her son, Antony Armstrong-Jones, married the late Princess Margaret, and their son has preserved the connection by taking the name Viscount Linley. Admission is by guided tours. Apart from the 11:15 tour on weekends and all Wednesday tours, these are given by costumed actors. | 18 Stafford Terr., Kensington | W8 7BH | 0207/602–3316 | www.rbkc.gov.uk/subsites/museums.aspx | £6 | Guided tours Wed. 11:15, 2:15, weekends 11:15, 1, 2:15, 3:30. Closed mid-June–mid-Sept. | High Street Kensington.
Holland Park.
The former grounds of the Jacobean Holland House opened to the public only in 1952. It was originally owned by Sir Walter Cope, the wealthy chancellor of James I, and many treats are to be found within its 60 acres. Holland House itself was nearly flattened by World War II bombs, but the east wing remains, now incorporated into a youth hostel and providing a fantastical stage for the April–SeptemberOpen Air Theatre (0207/361–3570 box office | www.operahollandpark.com). The glass-wall Orangery also survived to host art exhibitions and other public events. Next door the former Summer Ballroom has become the upmarket Belvedere restaurant; nearby is a lovely café. From the Belvedere’s terrace you see the formal Dutch Garden, planted by Lady Holland in the 1790s with the first English dahlias. North of that are woodland walks; lawns populated by peacocks, guinea fowl, and the odd, awkward emu; a fragrant rose garden; great banks of rhododendrons and azaleas, which bloom profusely in May; a well-supervised children’s Adventure Playground; and a Japanese water garden, legacy of the London Festival of Japan. If that’s not enough, you can watch cricket on the Cricket Lawn on the south side or tennis on the several courts. | Daily dawn–dusk | Holland Park, High Street Kensington.
Kensington Palace.
Not as splendid as Buckingham Palace, or as famous as Hampton Court, Kensington Palace is the most intimate of London’s great royal residences. Bought in 1689 by Queen Mary and King William III, it was converted into a palace by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Royals have been living here ever since, most famously Princess Diana, in the private part of the palace. The State Apartments, however, are open to the public and house temporary exhibitions.
From January 3, 2012 to March 25, 2012, the palace is closed while renovations take place. The “new” palace will showcase four new exhibitions that unfold the palace saga: Queen Victoria (with the theme “love, duty, and loss”); William and Mary and Queen Anne (“the private life of the Queen”); George II (“the curious world of the court”); and princesses Diana and Margaret (“it’s not easy being a princess”).
Kensington Palace Highlights
Kensington