West Kensington – My first staycation

Staying overnight in your own city. How would you call that? Right, that is a ‘staycation’. A few weeks ago I had my very first experience with this phenomenon and I can’t recommend it more. Even though I was staying in West Kensington, about twenty minutes from home, I really felt like being on holiday.

Staying in your own town allows you to have a fresh look at everything and to explore new areas you would normally not visit.

My friend and I were kindly invited by FG Properties to stay two nights in their apartment in West Kensington – a mere five minutes walk from Barons Court Station.

FG Properties offer self-catered apartments in West London. Some of the areas they cover are Kensington, Chelsea, Notting Hill and Knightsbridge. What I noticed when browsing their website is that all apartments look very modern and light. Something which I find a real plus!

The rates range roughly between £90 and £120 per night, but considering that most can house up to six people, these prices are extremely reasonable for accommodation in London.

The booking process

The booking process with FG  Properties is very simple. Find your preferred accommodation from the given list or search on the provided map. For more details about the apartment, the area and the amenities, simply click on one of the listed apartments. Each detailed page also has a booking feature, where you simply fill out your preferred dates of your stay and the number of guests.

If your preferred apartment is available, you will receive a booking confirmation email from FG Properties’ partner City Relay. This agency basically acts as the front desk of FG Properties’ apartments. They send you your booking details, help you during check-in and assist you further during your stay.

The way it works is that when you ‘check-in’, you simply go to your booked apartment and call City Relay’s phone number. They will give you the code of the lock which will allow you in. During our stay, they even emailed later during our first night if we found everything as we wished, and whether we needed any help. A very friendly bunch of people I found!

Our stay

After we received the code for the lock to our apartment, there was some confusion at first. Someone from a rental agency was showing a lady around ‘our flat’. They luckily left after a few minutes and apologized for the inconvenience. Apparently they have these apartments up for long-term rent as well, and the person from the agency was showing a lady around who was considering renting the place for a longer period of time.

After they had left, we went to explore the place and we really liked it! It looked almost exactly like on the pictures: white, light and modern. A few minor things that we noticed were for example that the blinds in front of the windows were almost all broken and there were some stains on the couch, but besides that it looked great.

Our apartment had two bedrooms, a bathroom with a bath/shower combination, toilet and sink. The living room and kitchen were located in an open space, and the kitchen led to the door to the balcony.

We had a great first night at The Barons Court Residence III (yes, sounds posh doesn’t it!). We opened the bottle of wine that we were welcomed with, made dinner and chatted the night away.

After a great night’s sleep I went out for a run to explore the area a little bit on Saturday morning. I came across a beautiful graveyard almost next door, saw a Christmas fair happening in one of the nearby school grounds and came across the most beautiful mansions. In the evening we made our way to Syon Park for Enchanted Woodland.

Time flies when you’re having fun! We really had a great time in West Kensington and felt sad to have to leave again on Sunday morning.

Area guide

New to the area? While the District Line and Piccadilly Line connects you easily to Central London, you might want to visit some more of the local sights.

The Museums

Visit the Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum just down the road in South Kensington. Now during the festive months there is even a beautiful ice rink set up in front of the Natural History Museum for you to check out. Up for a stroll? It is not far now until beautiful Kensington Gardens.

Holland Park

A quick 25 minute walk from Barons Court Residence III you can find Holland Park. With a real ‘forest’, Japanese garden and peacocks walking around this is one awesome park in West London.

Richmond

Everyone who knows me know that I am a big fan of the London area of Richmond. Simply take the District Line from Barons Court Station and you will find yourself in this green and lush part of town in no time.

Westfield

A fan of shopping? You are in luck. Westfield London – one of the largest shopping centres in town – can be found only 30 minutes walk from Barons Court Residence III. High street shopping, designer shopping, dining, you name it. All is here, including a large cinema complex.

My stay was kindly sponosored by FG Properties, but all opinions are very much my own