A beautiful sunny day so I kept to the plan to get the bus to the famous Portobello Rd Markets in Notting Hill. Sunny until I got OFF the bus when it was cloudy. By the time I walked to the start of Portobello Rd it was misty raining. Over-confident, I didn't take an umbrella. Rookie error.
The guide books/websites say 'get there early, 8.30-9.30 to avoid the crowds'. Which is all very well but a substantial number of stallholders were not set up or had not even arrived (in the first part I walked through which should have been the flea-market area). Rats. Oh well, think of the luggage space I saved. By the time I got to the other end (the antiques/souvenirs area) it was full of stalls AND people. I only bought one thing but took lots of pictures.
I think this is the travel bookshop from the movie, will have to re-watch it to confirm, but the interior looked right. Now a gift shop.
Next up the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. Sounds weird, but it was an interesting collection of all sorts of old items, sorted by decade, showing how things have changed over the years. Included newspapers and magazines, radios, all sorts of grocery items, games, toys, etc. The most interesting part was several 'timelines' of packaging, for example a row of a dozen Milo tins showing how they had changed over the years. No photographs unfortunately due to copyright rules. A bonus was a small cafe with a fabulous outdoor courtyard garden with little 'rooms' with tables/chairs or benches. If it hadn't been raining.
Final stop for the day was about a 1/2 hour walk away. On the way, mansions with lovely canopied entrances and big trees out the front.
Holland Park is around 50+ acres, the remains of a mansion/estate which was significant damaged by bombs in the Second World War. There are some woodland areas as well as more formal gardens and structures near the original house, and a big sportsground area. Parts of the estate were sold off in the 19th century to form the very upmarket suburb of Holland Park around it. Edina from AbFab 'lives' here, as do the characters from 'As Time Goes By'. I'll have to re-watch to see if I recognise any exterior shots!
Japanese Kyoto garden (with peacock which was chased away by obnoxious children).
Part of walls/archways in the main gardens
Orangery
Icehouse
Murals have been painted on one surviving covered area showing the house and grounds as they were used for entertaining
Assuming this was original part of house but not sure. The whole rest of the structure was covered in marquees and scaffolding for an opera event.
I was very thankful to take my damp, footsore (12km) self onto the bus which was right near the exit to the park.
The guide books/websites say 'get there early, 8.30-9.30 to avoid the crowds'. Which is all very well but a substantial number of stallholders were not set up or had not even arrived (in the first part I walked through which should have been the flea-market area). Rats. Oh well, think of the luggage space I saved. By the time I got to the other end (the antiques/souvenirs area) it was full of stalls AND people. I only bought one thing but took lots of pictures.
I think this is the travel bookshop from the movie, will have to re-watch it to confirm, but the interior looked right. Now a gift shop.
These were down a side street and an owner went absolutely mental at someone standing on the steps a couple of houses down, ranting that it wasn't a tourist attraction and was private property. I thought we were paying a compliment to them on how nice their houses looked.
Next up the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. Sounds weird, but it was an interesting collection of all sorts of old items, sorted by decade, showing how things have changed over the years. Included newspapers and magazines, radios, all sorts of grocery items, games, toys, etc. The most interesting part was several 'timelines' of packaging, for example a row of a dozen Milo tins showing how they had changed over the years. No photographs unfortunately due to copyright rules. A bonus was a small cafe with a fabulous outdoor courtyard garden with little 'rooms' with tables/chairs or benches. If it hadn't been raining.
Final stop for the day was about a 1/2 hour walk away. On the way, mansions with lovely canopied entrances and big trees out the front.
Holland Park is around 50+ acres, the remains of a mansion/estate which was significant damaged by bombs in the Second World War. There are some woodland areas as well as more formal gardens and structures near the original house, and a big sportsground area. Parts of the estate were sold off in the 19th century to form the very upmarket suburb of Holland Park around it. Edina from AbFab 'lives' here, as do the characters from 'As Time Goes By'. I'll have to re-watch to see if I recognise any exterior shots!
Japanese Kyoto garden (with peacock which was chased away by obnoxious children).
Part of walls/archways in the main gardens
Orangery
Icehouse
Assuming this was original part of house but not sure. The whole rest of the structure was covered in marquees and scaffolding for an opera event.
I was very thankful to take my damp, footsore (12km) self onto the bus which was right near the exit to the park.
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