Short read: This is reconnaissance on the razzle – the search-party that syncopates.
Short listen: Meet your guide, let him tell you a little bit about this tour – about Notting Hill and Portobello Road! It’s Tom’s podcast about the walk. It’s a good listen. Tom’s a barrister (a “recovering lawyer”) and ace Blue Badge guide. He’s fun, witty, engaging, friendly, whip-smart, charming – what’s not to like.
Long read: Because Notting Hill on a Saturday morning – market morning! – is curious and colourful, offbeat and yeasty. Here you walk with a ticket of freedom – a pass to scintillating escarpments. Just consider what’s squeezed out onto the palette this hillside: swells and scruffs; market stalls and scandal; Jimi Hendrix and Carnival; Cut-Throat Alley and Victorian Gothic; Madonna and Hugh Grant (let alone Julia Roberts and that bookshop); cottages, potteries and piggeries; colour washed mews and cab shelters and a racecourse and the gout route to Bath and butchers in straw hats and an invisible boundary between the present and the past… Magic!Guided by Tom, Brian or Richard III. N.B. the Notting Hill & Portobello Market Walk ends in Portobello Market, very near Notting Hill Gate Tube Stop.
Hugh Grant read: “…the world I live in. Which is here – Notting Hill – not a bad place to be. There’s the market on weekdays, selling every fruit and vegetable known to man. The tattoo parlour – with a guy outside who got drunk and now can’t remember why he chose ‘I love Ken.’ The radical hair-dressers where everyone comes out looking like the Cookie Monster, whether they like it or not. Then suddenly it’s the weekend, and from break of day, hundreds of stalls appear out of nowhere, filling Portobello Road right up to Notting Hill Gate and thousands of people buy millions of antiques, some genuine and some not so genuine. So this is where I spend my days and years – in this small village in the middle of a city…”
NOTTING HILL & PORTOBELLO MARKET – THE PRACTICALS
The Notting Hill & Portobello Market walk takes place every Saturday at 10.45 am. Meet Tom MBE, Brian or Richard III just outside the exit of Holland Park Tube.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE GUIDING
Don’t just take it from us…
LONDON WALKS PRIVATE WALKS
If you can’t make one of the regularly scheduled, just-turn-up, Notting Hill & Portobello Market it can always be booked as a private tour. If you go private you can have the Notting Hill & Portobello Market walk – or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. Ring Fiona or Mary on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you. A private London Walk – they’re good value for an individual or couple and sensational value for a group – makes an ideal group or educational or birthday party or office (team-building) or club outing.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LONDON WALKS
A private London Walk makes a fab gift – be it a birthday or anniversary or Christmas present or whatever. Merchandise schmerchandise (gift wrapped or not) – but giving someone an experience, now that’s special. Memories make us rich.
We took the Notting Hill tour with Richard III on April 6. Richard is a wonderful tour guide who has a deep knowledge of the history, architecture and culture of the area. His approach to guiding was spot-on with an appreciation for the subjects blended with a dry sense of humor. When we got to the market area, it was so busy (it was Saturday)and crowded (with other tourists) but Richard easily guided us to the final stops on our tour. This was a very fun tour.
Rated 5 out of 5
Carolyn –
We thoroughly enjoyed this walk with Richard 111. He was very informative on the Victorian history of the area and the grand mansions and mews house in Holland Park. He gave interesting stories about the more recent celebrity residents and stunning house valuations. There were a number of Blue Plaques to see including the home of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. He led us along Portobello Road Market and then left us to explore on our own with a short walk back to Nottinghill Gate Tube station. I would totally recommend.
Rated 5 out of 5
Doug D’Argenio –
Claire was fantastic! Lovely personality and chock full of very interesting information! We’ll be back for other tours for sure!
Rated 5 out of 5
Magda –
Brian was very engaging: he accompanied us through very interesting walk, full of facts and stories transferred with a smart sense of humour. Great experience!
Rated 4 out of 5
Kathi –
Very much enjoyed this walk, led by Richard with his dry sense of humour and wry smile. If I had a criticism, it’s that I am not that interested in Richard Curtis films, but it was billed as covering this topic, so that is my fault., The history and architecture parts were fascinating and I walked round a whole area of London I have never been to before. Would recommend, especially to rom-com fans.
Rated 5 out of 5
Sharon –
Richard III brings Notting Hill to life with interesting and funny stories delivered impeccably. He is smart, funny, and engaging, with a twinkle in his eye you don’t see coming at first. Honestly, he was the best thing about the tour and I would go on any tour he was leading. Ending in Portobello Market was terrific; a fun place to walk about, look at, and eat.
Rated 5 out of 5
Diane –
We walked through Notting Hill to Portobello market with Richard 111. Thoroughly enjoyed the walk, Richard was interesting and engaging with a gentle dry wit and extensive knowledge of the area and its history.
Rated 5 out of 5
Bruce Hislop –
A wonderful and interesting walk with Claire around the upper and lower classes of a changing area of London finishing at the famous Portabello Market with a murder or two along the way.
Rated 5 out of 5
E Beazley –
We toured Notting Hill with Richard III on 16 Sep. He provided an excellent overview of the origins and development of Holland Park, Notting Hill, and the Portobello Market. In two hours you travel from the mansions of Holland Park (we didn’t see Madonna, but Celia Imrie did wander by) through Notting Hill and arrive in the hurly-burly of the market on Portobello Road. Along the way Richard told many interesting stories about the neighborhoods through which we were passing, and he had several funny anecdotes about the movie Notting Hill–if you buy a home in Notting Hill, do NOT paint your front door blue. Don’t bother with the movie–go on this walk and see the real Notting Hill with Richard III.
Rated 5 out of 5
Nancy Deininger –
On Saturday, September 30, my husband and I meet Claire for a throughly delightful walk around Notting Hill and The Portobello Rd market! We learned so much about the area! Claire knew so much! She made the history of the area come alive! So glad we went!
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Jill A. –
We took the Notting Hill tour with Richard III on April 6. Richard is a wonderful tour guide who has a deep knowledge of the history, architecture and culture of the area. His approach to guiding was spot-on with an appreciation for the subjects blended with a dry sense of humor. When we got to the market area, it was so busy (it was Saturday)and crowded (with other tourists) but Richard easily guided us to the final stops on our tour. This was a very fun tour.
Carolyn –
We thoroughly enjoyed this walk with Richard 111. He was very informative on the Victorian history of the area and the grand mansions and mews house in Holland Park. He gave interesting stories about the more recent celebrity residents and stunning house valuations. There were a number of Blue Plaques to see including the home of Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. He led us along Portobello Road Market and then left us to explore on our own with a short walk back to Nottinghill Gate Tube station. I would totally recommend.
Doug D’Argenio –
Claire was fantastic! Lovely personality and chock full of very interesting information! We’ll be back for other tours for sure!
Magda –
Brian was very engaging: he accompanied us through very interesting walk, full of facts and stories transferred with a smart sense of humour. Great experience!
Kathi –
Very much enjoyed this walk, led by Richard with his dry sense of humour and wry smile. If I had a criticism, it’s that I am not that interested in Richard Curtis films, but it was billed as covering this topic, so that is my fault., The history and architecture parts were fascinating and I walked round a whole area of London I have never been to before. Would recommend, especially to rom-com fans.
Sharon –
Richard III brings Notting Hill to life with interesting and funny stories delivered impeccably. He is smart, funny, and engaging, with a twinkle in his eye you don’t see coming at first. Honestly, he was the best thing about the tour and I would go on any tour he was leading. Ending in Portobello Market was terrific; a fun place to walk about, look at, and eat.
Diane –
We walked through Notting Hill to Portobello market with Richard 111. Thoroughly enjoyed the walk, Richard was interesting and engaging with a gentle dry wit and extensive knowledge of the area and its history.
Bruce Hislop –
A wonderful and interesting walk with Claire around the upper and lower classes of a changing area of London finishing at the famous Portabello Market with a murder or two along the way.
E Beazley –
We toured Notting Hill with Richard III on 16 Sep. He provided an excellent overview of the origins and development of Holland Park, Notting Hill, and the Portobello Market. In two hours you travel from the mansions of Holland Park (we didn’t see Madonna, but Celia Imrie did wander by) through Notting Hill and arrive in the hurly-burly of the market on Portobello Road. Along the way Richard told many interesting stories about the neighborhoods through which we were passing, and he had several funny anecdotes about the movie Notting Hill–if you buy a home in Notting Hill, do NOT paint your front door blue. Don’t bother with the movie–go on this walk and see the real Notting Hill with Richard III.
Nancy Deininger –
On Saturday, September 30, my husband and I meet Claire for a throughly delightful walk around Notting Hill and The Portobello Rd market! We learned so much about the area! Claire knew so much! She made the history of the area come alive! So glad we went!