HOLLAND PARK
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Sandwiched between bustling Kensington High Street, Brook Green and tourist heavy Notting Hill and Portobello Road, Holland Park is both laid back and buzzing. Residential blocks of celebrity stuffed mansions surround the communal gardens that inspired Richard Curtis’ film Notting Hill. This leafy neighbourhood has a historic green space at its heart. The park itself symbolises the epitome of West London living, where acres of lush green space meets the best of London’s cultural scene in the form of the open-air opera house and theatre. In addition to the area’s scenic landscape, its hip boutiques and restaurants, international schools and high-end property market have lured a global crowd, further adding to its cosmopolitan mystique. These international residents tend to hail from a variety of professions, but Holland Park has always been a hotspot for those in the arts and entertainment industries and has been home to a number of film and TV executives. This might go some way to explain the prominence of Holland Park in popular TV shows including Absolutely Fabulous and As Time Goes By, in both of which lead characters have homes in Holland Park.
The area does have a real village feel to it, and a true sense of community but it certainly has its unique quirks too. One of the butchers has regular famous visitors, including Richard Branson. Regular grocery sellers also sell expensive truffles not something you’d typically find in a London grocer. Newsagents sell international newspapers to accommodate the international residents in the area, thought to make up over 50% of all residents. And some locals walk around wearing real fur coats.
With a diverse selection of property types in Holland Park there are a few common, notable features to highlight. The Grade II listed street, Royal Crescent, offers two curved-facing crescents of terraced houses, overlooking stunning communal gardens that were inspired by its namesake in Bath. It remains in excellent condition with four storey, stucco-fronted properties, with striking porticoed entrances. In addition, Holland Park and the W11 area offer a host of similar stucco-fronted period houses and Victorian terraces with some remaining as entire houses, and others being converted into spacious period apartments.
There are large, Italianate, white- stucco villas in Holland Park itself and classical white stucco detached houses in Addison Road. Oakwood Court off Addison Road has mansion flats and there are some Wates-built Sixties and Seventies houses, notably in Woodsford Square.
Holland Park has excellent connections to the local area via public transport. It sits on the Central line and you can easily reach other central parts of London in less than 15 minutes. There are also buses to connect you to the rest of London. The 31 takes you to Camden, the 148 takes you to White City, the 94 takes you to Piccadilly Circus. There are also night buses that serve the area.
If you are more eco-conscious, then you can walk or cycle from Holland Park. Cycling in particular is a lovely way to travel around the area and you can cycle all the way from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park in just 30 minutes to get to Oxford Circus.