Visiting London can often feel like going abroad – as if there is a whole world to take in, new foods, different languages, cultures and attractions and only a limited time to drink it all in. This is why it pays to break London down into manageable chunks, giving an area the time needed to fully explore. This gives you a great excuse for a return visit to check out a different area next time!
From your Park Grand Kensington Hotel, you can do just that. There is a wealth of must-see attractions within the immediate vicinity, and enough beauty and culture to rival any part of the capital.
Holland Park
Holland Park offers more than your average park. At this glorious location, a short walk from your comfortable Park Grand Kensington Hotel room, you can take in all manner of outdoor beauty. From the tended, formal gardens to the wooded sanctuary, there is something to lighten everyone’s heart. Holland Park is more an exercise in visual overload, with numerous breeds of flowers, shrubs and trees, than it is your everyday swings and woodchips affair. Including an orangery and a formally styled Japanese garden, Holland Park is a slice of country life right in the heart of London.
Take in Some Victorian History
Kensington – with its long-standing association with the aristocracy – has a strong vein of Victoriana running through it. All of our hotels near Earl’s Court London, find themselves sitting almost cheek-to-cheek with the history of Queen Victoria herself.
Firstly, and most famously, is the Royal Kensington Palace and its attendant gardens. This is where Queen Victoria was born and held a special place in her heart for her entire life. We also have the Royal Albert Hall, named for Victoria’s ill-fated husband and regular host of the BBC Proms. Move around Royal Albert Hall and you will find yourself on Hyde Park.
The Natural History and The Science Museum
Aside from the looming character of Queen Victoria, Kensington is also famous for something else – museums. We again have our Victorian forbears to thank for this. Due to their obsessions with categorising history and nature, The Natural History Museum contains over 50 million – yes, that’s right – exhibits spread over 4 acres of galleries, dioramas and displays. These include a life-sized T-Rex, a 91-foot model of a blue whale and fully assembled dinosaur skeletons. And, as an added bonus, there is also a piece of the actual moon there.
Both the Natural History and Science Museum are close to our hotels near Earl’s Court, London, so if you can’t fit them in a single day, there’s always the option to come back and explore further.
The Science Museum, again founded by those industrious Victorians, opened in 1857 and encompasses almost everything to do with the scientific world. If you want to learn about the space race, the human body, flight or any other scientific topic, you could very well find yourself lost for days in The Science Museum. It’s also great fun, with lots of buttons to press and handles to crank, so kids old and young can enjoy themselves.
