Portobello Road, Notting Hill

Portobello Road always drums up visions of the market scene in Bedknobs and Broomsticks to me, we decided to take a wander down this iconic, Notting Hill street to see what would be open on a Sunday after the easing of lockdown.

The road is just over a mile long and on Saturday the market is in full swing - on Sunday the shops, bars and restaurants that line the road are open and it is even worth a wander down there to look at the colourful houses in the side roads.

We got on the number 70 bus from South Kensington underground station but there are stations at Notting Hill Gate and Ladbroke Grove in walking distance too. At the far end nearer to Ladbroke Grove is Portobello Green Market and a food market. The market had bric-a-brac, books, clothes and jewellery and over the road the street food smelt amazing. Lots to tempt you from Greek to jerk chicken and fresh fruit smoothies - with the sun and the reggae music it felt like we could have been on holiday

There are lots of little bazaar type shops, charity shops, retro vintage shops and as you head up towards the Notting Hill gate end you'll find lots of antiques shops too. Alice's the iconic vintage shop was closed but I did love Jessie Westerns which had cowboy boots and lots of Native American jewellery.

If you continue to walk up Portobello Road there are plenty of pretty pastel houses, cherry blossoms and you can see that many will be draped with wisteria soon. Notting Hill is a photographers dream.

We walked for 15 minutes to Holland Park - which if you are in Kensington is well worth a visit. The Kyoto Garden was very pretty in the spring sunshine.

There are plenty of buses to hop on that will take you back towards the main stations but their are also underground stations all in walking distance.

If you want to visit the market then Saturday is the best day to go - if you just want to mooch around then Sunday is the day for you.

Below is an affiliate link to Railcard - we have a Friends and Family Railcard which cost me £30 for the year but it is well worth it if you travel by train regularly with children. You can save 1/3 off adult journeys and 60% off children's (5-15 year olds) journeys.

Kensington has many places to explore - you can easily spend a whole day visiting. Other parks that are fairly close by are St James' Park, Kensington Gardens, Holland Park and Hyde Park.