With its grand, stucco facade, the Kensington is set at the eponymous neighborhood’s extensive, leafy street. Certainly, the Victorian grandeur of its excessive ceilings, historical past decor, and open fireplaces evoke something of a bygone generation. Yet, there is also modernity to the colorful, current furniture and the attentive, unstuffy body of workers. It all combines to lend the personal, familiar vibe of a lovingly-restored mansion and sophisticated members’ membership; wherein everybody appears as they belong.
With its grand, stucco facade, the Kensington is set at the eponymous neighborhood’s wide, leafy side road. Certainly, the Victorian grandeur of its high ceilings, heritage decor, and open fireplaces evoke something of a bygone era. Yet, there may also be modernity to the colorful, cutting-edge furniture and the attentive, unstuffy team of workers. It all combines to lend the non-public, acquainted vibe of a lovingly-restored mansion and sophisticated members’ membership, where every person appears as they belong.
The lodge’s enviable vicinity in South Kensington can wander to the elegant boutiques of Sloane Street and Kings Road and the vibrant food markets and art galleries of Duke of York Square. Culture vultures could be held equally spellbound with the aid of the treasures housed within the neighborhood’s global-well-known museums, from the blue whale of the Natural History Museum to the 5 millennia of human creativity on the V&A.
Away from these nicely-trodden routes, though, there are hidden gems to be determined – as encouraged via the inn’s weekend curator, who choices out Exhibition Road, with its ‘conventional brickwork, sculptures and timber lining the wide-open avenue’ as ‘quintessentially London.’ For something more bijou, take a stroll down the bohemian but unique South Kensington Mews.
And for retail remedy? Well, you’ll locate all of it at Harrods, of course, which, even if you’re now not within the market for Chanel attire or Cartier necklaces, is well worth a trip if simplest to test out the food halls and marvel on the authentic Victorian tiles. The lately revitalized eating place Bibendum also has tremendous tiling – Art Deco this time – stained glass and is an extraordinary spot for a coffee. End the day back at The Kensington’s K Bar, domestic to a groovy, confident atmosphere, urbane guests, and innovative cocktails combined using an immaculate team of workers.
The Marylebone
It’s a comparable scene at The Marylebone – domestic to several of London’s most appealing suites, complete with door terraces, along with the upscale Third Space pool and health club. Here, 108 Brasserie and 108 Bar spill out onto the cobbles of Marylebone Lane; they’re out of doors, tables, greenery, and stylish lantern lights recalling a Parisian café but mixing seamlessly into Marylebone’s innovative, compelling neighborhood.
It is Marylebone’s wealthy streak of impartial companies that provide rise to a ‘village’ sense. There is a wealth of cultural points of interest – from the modern-day artworks of the Rebecca Hossack gallery to the classical splendor of the Wallace Collection; from the immaculately dressed A-listers of the Chiltern Firehouse to the intimate confines of the Wigmore Hall – and all just a brief walk from the thrill of Bond Street, Oxford Street, and the West End.
Chiltern Street itself is emblematic of the neighborhood’s communal sense – domestic to an array of quirky unbiased boutiques, selling everything from whiskey and candles to woodwind contraptions and wedding ceremony attire. Then there’s the excellent meals shops: The Ginger Pig butchers; FishWorks for the great fishcakes in town; and, for lunch, the wonderfully British sandwich bar – and nearby institution – Paul Rothe & Son. If, after all this, you’re after a sweet deal with (with an aspect of favor), strive Cabbages and Frocks – a small high-quit market set in the grounds of St Marylebone Parish Church. The church changed when poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning secretly married and considered one of Charles Dickens’ kids to become baptized (he wrote six of his novels from a family domestic close by).
The Bloomsbury
For extra author references, The Bloomsbury is set amid the historic 18th-century neighborhood of the equal name – a literary heartland this is domestic to The British Museum and a bunch of galleries, antiquarian bookshops, and a wealth of cultural background; it’s also simply 5 mins from the boutiques and markets of Covent Garden, and London’s theatreland.
