It is hard to believe that the houses in Holland Park, which now sell for more than £10 million, were only forty years ago part of the infamous Rackman empire – an area of squalid bedsits. It now contains some of the most expensive property in London.

The park itself is one of the most rural in London – quite unlike the wide open spaces of Hyde Park, it has some dense woodland where it is hard to believe that you are in the middle of London. The Belvedere, which is the remains of the old Holland House, sits in the middle and is the home in the summer to enthusiastic open-air operas. Dogs have to be walked on a lead which is not so good for dog owners but rather better for children.

The area to the west of the park is mainly owned by the Illchester estate but, with the advent of the Leasehold Enfranchisement Act, the grip of the estate is rather less than it used to be. There are modern (post war) developments all along that side of the park varying from Illchester Terrace with its grand detached houses, through the Abbotsbury's which are rather smaller, to Woodsford Square where the architecture falls well short of the location which shows in the prices which are significantly less than anywhere around it.

Both alongside Holland Park to the north and in Addison Road there are some of the biggest houses in Central London. Most of these are well over 10,000 sq ft, detached and with large gardens. On the other side of Holland Park Avenue are rather smaller houses but many of them back onto communal gardens for family life in central London it doesn't get much better.

Being primarily a residential area, the shops tend to be of the local variety rather than the big chains. Most are on Holland Park Avenue and include what must be among the best butchers and cheese-shops in London, Lidgates and Jeraboams.

Transport is good with a straight road from Holland Park Avenue, into Bayswater and then into Oxford Street – which takes buses directly into the West End. The Central Line, following this same route, continues on into the City – which is yet another reason why it is so popular with investment bankers.

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