Kensington is a very crowded borough and is one of the highest populated areas in the UK.
The houses are Victorian and Georgian many having 4-6 floors, now of course having been converted into flats. The only high rise building in Kensington is The Holiday Inn, a twenty seven-storey hotel.
Property to rent is always available at a cost of £695-£955pcm for a studio apartment and from £997pcm for a l bed flat.
Kensington High Street has plenty of upmarket shops and was voted London’s second best street for shopping in 2005. Some of the shops found in the High Street include, Sizzley, Zara, Kew, Mango, French Connection, East Ltd, Muji and Laura Ashley.
Kensington Palace was the birthplace of Queen Victoria in 1819 but is now widely known as the last home of Princess Diana. An hour long tour will take you round the staterooms and a collection of the Princess’s dresses is on display. There are audiotapes if you prefer to look round without a guide.
Kensington Gardens is a lovely place to explore. It has the Serpentine Gallery which from the l930’s was a tea room but since 1970 has been an art gallery for modern and contemporary art and attracts some 400,000 visitors a year.
Also in the garden is the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, the Round Pond where people float model boats and the bronze statue of Barrie’s Peter Pan.
The Baden-Powell House is another famous landmark. It was built as a tribute to Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scouting Movement. It now provides 180 hostel bedrooms for Guides, Scouts and their families whilst staying in London. It offers affordable accommodation, has a café and a display of memorabilia on the ground floor and a large restaurant on the first floor, the bedrooms are on the upper floors.
The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine is also situated in the area and is one of the World’s top ten Universities focusing in medicine, engineering and science.
The Royal College of Music is a well respected school of music and teaches all aspects of Western classical music from undergraduate to doctorate level. It also has a junior section teaching 300 children aged 8-18 yrs on Saturdays.
In South Kensington can be found more shops thought these tend to be smaller than those of its neighbour. The housing here is expensive and new developments built to a very high standard are being erected. The 2007 houses in Upper Phillimore Gardens are selling for over £20m.
This area caters for a large student population as there is not only the Imperial College London University but also many Language Schools in the vicinity. It’s a very European area with Spanish, Italian and French people living here. It has many French families as shown by the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle a French Secondary School, French bookshops and cafes.
South Kensington has plenty of shops and these include, Jaan, Jaeger, Gap, Diesel, Jigsaw, Lacoste, Klebrequin and The Library.
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