Accommodation in Kensington Area - any advice?

[mears]

Going to a conference in June. Any nice (but not too expensive) hotels? Four of us are going the night before, hopefully will be able to get tickets when we are down there for a show.
Any recommendations on both fronts?

[SueW]

No - I am dark!

We'll have to find each other another time Mears. Perhaps at the Baby Show in Glasgow next year (provided bmibaby/easyjet are doing cheap flights).

[mears]

Imagine that! We were sitting without a table. My back was to the marquee, wearing beige top and pale green trousers. Do you have blonde hair?

[SueW]

Yes! LHS as you went out through the door to the marquee.

I think you were sitting about 3 feet away from me if you were on a chair without a table. We were sitting on the shadiest table, four of us eating sarnies and a Jewish antenatal teacher who had brought her on kosher lunch. One of us had a 6mo baby in a pushchair.

[mears]

By the terrace do you mean the tables at the left hand side of the marquee? Three of us sat inbetween the tables because there was no room.

[SueW]

Mears, I didn't appear on the delegates list! Don't know why.

I wasn't officially attending on Friday but I gatecrashed lunch with some friends and we sat at the tables on the terrace with some other people we knew, having brought our own sarnies from Starbucks. Then we went around the side of the marquee and met up with some more friends by the water.

When everyone else went back to conference we did a little retail therapy and then had some Pimms in Balans. Happy hour disappeared in an alcoholic mist..... before we moved onto Marzano for dinner.

Today the highlight for me was when Tricia Anderson did a very emotive piece on birth. I was supposed to be taking notes for my branch newsletter but I sat transfixed and moved to tears by what she said.

Glad you enjoyed it. I hoped I would recognise you by some sort of mumsnet intuition!

[mears]

Hi, I am back. Thoroughly enjoyed the conference. Went and saw Blood Brothers the night before and it was wonderful. Had tea at Cafe Uno before coming home which was lovely. Kensington Thistle was a disappointment but what can you expect for a last minute cheap booking.
I scanned the delegates SueW to see if I could spot anyone with your initials! There were about 4 people with the same initials on the delegates list. It was quite strange knowing you were in the same place as a fellow mumsnetter but not knowing who they were

[SueW]

Bother - I missed mears - was going to suggest a mumsnet meet up at the NCT conference That'll teach me to go away overnight and then take 3 hours catching up on email and web reading and have coffee with a friend before checking the most important thread in my life right now!!

[lou33]

Yes Muffin man is lovely isn't it?

[Azure]

If it's not too late, another coffee / lunch suggestion is the Muffin Man, which is just off Ken High St in Wrights Lane (turn left out of the tube, then left passed Cafe Nero and it is down a little on the right hand side). For chain coffee shops Cafe Nero is in a stylish glass building, plus there is the usual Starbucks. For a stylish drink in the evening I used to go (pre-DS) to the 10th floor in the Royal Garden Hotel. There is a bar (next to the restaurant) with wonderful views over Kensington Gardens and across London.

[mears]

Just about to leave for my flight to Stanstead. Will let you know what it was like on my return. Won't be back till late Friday night. Bye

[mears]

Kensington Palace. pie

[lou33]

Are they revamping it Pie? I used to love their soup!

[mears]

You and I are going to the same place SueW

[pie]

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, DH has just spent hours 'fixing' the computer.

Lou33, the Holland Park Cafe is due to re-open anyday now, it has been closed for about 6 months.

Balans is nice, about half way between the institute and the tube station. On the same side as the Institute on all the off streets there are a few cafe type places, Palms is a popular one, just behind WH Smith. If you want just some good food the tube end is best, especially Wagamamas. Their aren't alot of cafe type places round there though. There is a Cafe Rouge at the bottom of Kensignton Church Street, and across the road a nice pub called The Katherine Wheel. I have to say that most of the eateries/drinkeries (is that a word) will be about 150 yards down the high street if you go right when coming out of the station. The institute is too the left though. But the high street isn't that long.

Safeways is still there and has gone very 'posh' with a Sushi bar and stuff.

HTH

[lou33]

What about Holland Park cafe?

[SueW]

Thanks SamboM.

Opp Safeways - it's all coming back to me now. I used to go up there quite a lot pre-DD and vaguely remember a supermarket but that's almost 7 years ago now.

[SamboM]

Balans on Ken High Street (south side,ie same side as the tube station, opposite Safeways ish I should say) is quite a nice licensed cafe. Probably about the best on the high st.

[SueW]

Sorry - duh!

Conference is at Commonwealth Institute; we'll all be de-tubing at High St Ken. Looking for somewhere close to those two places. We're staying at the Travel Inn, Kensington but I'm not too worried about getting to/from there, just need a place to meet up around lunchtime pre-shopping and in the early evening post conference (we're already sorted for somewhere to eat on Friday evening).

[pie]

Sue, ermmm.. I can have a think, but what area of Kensington are you going to be in? Some parts there are alot of chains, some parts there are alot of independent places kwim?

And mears there are 3 Thistles in Kensington; Park, Palace and Gardens. Do you know which one you are booked into? All are in nice areas though!

[SueW]

Just the thread!

I am going to be in Kensington on Friday (I suspect, mears, that we will probably pass on the street without knowing!) and Saturday.

I need to find a place to meet friends for coffee/lunch. Some of them are attending the conference but most of us are just going down a day early for the NCT Members' Conference on Saturday.

We'd like a cafe we can plonk ourselves down in for an hour between noon and 1pm, then possibly return around 5pm. It would be nice, but not essential, if it is also licensed.

Any ideas? I guess that one's to pie (feels like a Blind Date question!)

[CAM]

I've stayed in the Thistle at Charing Cross and it was lovely.

[mears]

We are booked into the Thistle Hotel, Kensington. 4 star. £34.50 each (twin rooms) for bed and continental braekfast.
Anyone know anything about it. Is it nice?

[lou33]

Pie didn't the Ravna Gora use to be a veggie place too? My oldest took her first steps in Holland Park, near the tennis courts.

[pie]

One more thing mears! If you find somewhere you like the look of and need to know how far to the Institute just let me know. I have lived in Kensington my whole 26 years so am always here if you need to know anything else generally about the area.

BTW took my first steps in the Commonwealth Institute!!

[mears]

Thankyou very much for the information. I'll check those links out pie, that area would be ideal. I'll let you know how we get on.