DK Travel : London : Kensington and Knightsbridge

This is where London’s gentry live. Nannies push prams around Kensington Gardens, uniformed school children line up in Hans Crescent and the social “in-crowd” gossip in the Fifth-Floor Café at Harvey Nichols. Whatever time of year, nobody is without a tan. Harrods is the light beacon of the area; the solid rocks are the great museums established in South Kensington by Prince Albert, whose name is never far away. Kensington is the Royal Borough where Lady Diana roamed. She lived in Kensington Palace, the choicest of royal residences, and shopped in Beauchamp Place. Foreign royalty have homes here, too. Such mansions need the finest furnishings and some of London’s best antique shops are in Kensington Church Street and Portobello Road, the most fun place to be on Saturday mornings.

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Clarke’s

The menu consists of whatever chef Sally Clarke decides to cook for the evening meal. Whatever it is will be excellent.
Electric Cinema

London’s oldest purpose-built movie theatre, it remains one of the prettiest. Recently re-opened after refurbishment, with luxury seats, a bar and restaurant.
Fifth Floor Café

Open all day for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner.
Flower Corner

Treat yourself to some exotic blooms from this stall opposite High Street Kensington tube.
Harrods

No backpacks, no torn jeans... Harrods’ doormen ensure even the people in the store are in the best possible taste. This world-famous emporium began life in 1849 as a small, impeccable grocer’s, and the present terracotta building was built in 1905. It is most striking at night, when it is illuminated by 11,500 lights. It has more than 150 departments and on no account should you miss the wonderfully tiled and decorated food halls. Pick up a floor plan as you go in. An Egyptian theme decorates the central well, at the bottom of which is a shrine to Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed.
Harrods

London’s most famous store has 300 departments full of the finest goods that money can buy. Specialities include food, fashion, china, glass and kitchenware.
Harrod’s Ice-cream Parlour

Freshly-made in Harrod’s kitchens, the ice cream in this fourth-floor café is arranged into mouth-watering, elaborate sundaes, including such old-fashioned treats as banana splits.
Harvey Nichols

Another top London store. Fashion houses occupy five floors, with many British designers represented. There are also home departments, a fine restaurant and a food hall.

Harvey Nichols mannequin
Holland Park

There is a great deal of charm about Holland Park, where enclosed gardens are laid out like rooms in an open-air house. At its centre is Holland House, a beautiful Jacobean mansion, which was destroyed in a bombing raid in 1941. What remains is used as a youth hostel and the backdrop for summer concerts. Peacocks roam in the woods and in the gardens, including the Dutch Garden, where dahlias were first planted in England.

Café, Holland Park
Holland Park Concerts

The open-air theatre in Holland Park hosts an annual summer season of opera, theatre and dance, while art exhibitions are held regularly in the Ice House and the Orangery.

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