Kensington Property

Buying advice for property searching in Kensington, London

Kensington, as opposed to South Kensington which is the area south of the Cromwell Road, or West Kensington which is west of Olympia, is one of the most popular residential areas in London. Families particularly like it as the houses tend to be bigger than those in Chelsea and the proximity of Kensington Gardens and Holland Park make it ideal for children and dogs.

The most expensive houses are on the Phillimore Estate, which runs up the hill to the east of Holland Park. These are, for the most part, large stuccoed houses with good-sized gardens. In the same area, there are some large mansion blocks and developments with parking, such as Academy Gardens and Observatory Gardens. The whole block between Kensington Church Street and Holland Park is quiet and tree-lined, with family-sized houses.

Bordering Kensington Gardens is Kensington Palace Gardens. This is a private road of very large ambassadorial-sized houses, including Kensington Palace itself where many of the minor royal family have flats and, of course, where Princess Diana lived.

Kensington High Street is functional but hardly beautiful. It has most of the major retail names and is usually extremely busy. This contrasts with Kensington Church Street which is much more village-like, with antique shops, cafés and restaurants.

The area to the south of Kensington High Street is a mixture of very high-value houses on streets such as Cottesmore Gardens, Victoria Road and Hyde Park Gate, large blocks of handsome red-brick mansion blocks such as Iverna Gardens and Kensington Court, and medium-sized family houses in pleasant streets such as Scarsdale Villas or Abingdon Road.

A perk of living in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea is that the parking permit is not zoned, but covers the whole of one of the best residential areas in London.

For more information on buying advice and property searching in Kensington, London, contact the Property Vision London property search and advice team.