Bethany's Year in London: September 2007

Notting Hill

Over the weekend, I took a turn of Notting Hill (made famous by the movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts). It's quite a nice and trendy place to live- a ton of famous people live in the area. Really expensive, of course.

A row of coloured terraced houses

Another one of terraced houses

The Travel Bookshop from the movie-(Hugh Grant's character owns it in the film)

St. Peter's Church- built when the area was first developed in the 1800s.

The view up the street from the front of St. Peter's

St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic church- built for the poor Irish community that settled in the area during the Potato Famine

Notting Hill used to have a lot of potteries in the 1800s- Dickens wrote about them. This is the last remaining kiln (though it is apparently the dining room of a house now)

An example of one of the larger houses in Notting Hill

Barnsbury

Over the weekend, took a walking tour of Barnsbury- a section of Islington. It was developed from about 1820 to 1900. It was originally for the upper middle class- very close to the City, but gradually declined into slums until about the 1960s. It also was spared in the Blitz so the houses and original squares are still as they were originally. Now of course, it is a pretty nice area to live in (Tony Blair used to live here, I saw his house) and popular with professionals and young families as it is still cheaper than many parts of London. (In relative terms, of course, a decent two bed flat will still set you back about 600,000 quid!)

A villa in Montfort square

This row of terraces was built in the 1830s where Egyptian things were all the rage. Every other house either has a sphinx or a small replica of Cleopatra's Needle on the front steps. Here you can see a couple of sphinxes

Here you can see both a sphinx and Cleopatra's Needle

This is Lonsdale Square which was developed by an architect known for his church buildings so you can see some of those elements here

The front doors to three terrace houses in the corner of Lonsdale Square- the middle house is very narrow

St. Andrew's Church- it looks old but was actually built in 1854.

Another street in Barnsbury

A cat outside the window

There are still a few flowers blooming

Highgate Village

I took a guided tour of Highgate- an expensive area of London that shares the same hill as Hampstead village. The two are separated by Hampstead Heath. (See my earlier blog on Hampstead). It's a very desirable part of London to live in as it has a village like atmosphere, but you are only 20 minutes or so from Central London.

Some typical houses in Highgate- plaque is to Charles Dickens who stayed there for a few days.

Another typical house- would likely set you back about a million pounds

The house where the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge died of an opium overdose

The church where Coleridge is buried

An example of some former almshouses for the poor- built during the Victorian times

Some early Georgian cottages

The chapel of Highgate School- a posh boys' school. T.S. Eliot taught here briefly.

The entrance to Highgate cemetary- very famous, Karl Marx among others are buried here.

The road from the cemetary back to Highgate village (Remember this is actually in London).

Chelsea Cloisters

So here are the pictures of my new place called Chelsea Cloisters.

View of the Studio room

View into Kitchenette

View from window

The dome is Harrods- also seem from the window

For Jessie who was wondering where the schools were- primary school across the street.

South Kensington

Over the weekend, I took a guided tour of South Kensington-just south of Kensington Gardens and where the Victoria and Albert and Natural History Museum are. I also went to Kensington Palace to see the flowers and tributes left to Princess Diana. There were several anti- Charles and Camilla signs posted on the Palace gates.