Campden Hill

This is a circular walk through Campden Hill in Kensington starting at Notting Hill Gate Underground (Circle, District and Central Lines Zones 1 and 2). Leave the Underground through exit A and go straight ahead until you turn left into Campden Hill Square. The walk takes us up one side of the square, across the top and down the other side to Holland Park Avenue. This is a lovely sloping square developed over many years around private communal gardens. There were a number of interesting residents including Siegfried Sassoon. We look at their houses and hear a little of their history.

The walk continues along the edge of Holland Park away from traffic, and crosses beside the Open Air Theatre before emerging into Melbury Road. This is a fascinating part of town best known as an artists' colony. The land was acquired from Lady Holland on a 99-year lease when debts forced her to sell. Huge houses were erected with large north-facing windows where artists and sculpters painted and modelled the rich and famous, becoming even more rich and famous themselves in the process. Holman Hunt was one of the most notable residents. His wife continued to visit St Paul's Cathedral after he died to gaze at The Light of the World. Lord Leighton's house is open as a museum.

We then walk by the southernmost gate of Holland Park into Kensington High Street and into the Phillimore Estate. Linley Sambourne House can be visited - a perfectly Victorian town house. Open March - December. Visiting times click here. From here we swalk up and down several streets in Campden Hill, stopping at places of interest, some literary, some musical.

The walk finishes in Kensington Church St by a house where Musio Clementi once lived. From this point it is a short stroll back to Notting Hill Gate and the Underground.