If you are an admirer of history, art and architecture, then London’s Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a visual treat with its array of museums, art galleries and historic homes.

Made of up five square miles, Kensington is one of the most affluent or “posh” - as the English say – of London’s 32 boroughs. With home prices averaging $1 million, it’s no surprise the area has been referred to as “millionaires row.” Stately townhomes are poised on quiet streets, restaurants serving an impressive selection of international cuisine are tucked on side streets and trendy retail stores convene in the Kings Road and Kensington High Street shopping districts. The famous Harrods department store holds court on Brompton Road; situated around it are a range of shopping opportunities to suit just about every taste.

Originally a sleepy village governed by a nobleman, Kensington took on newfound status when King William III and Mary II took up residence in a home that was transformed and renamed Kensington Palace in the late 1600s. Successive sovereigns lived in the Palace through the late 1700s and it was Queen Victoria’s primary residence until her coronation in 1837. The Palace was home to Princess Diana at the time of her death in 1997. Lesser-known royals continue to reside at the Palace in private apartments. A collection of royal garments and accessories, including those worn by Princess Diana, are on display in the Palace and its neighboring garden space is a frequented recreation area for rollerblading, walks and picnics.

Not far from the Palace is Royal Albert Hall, London’s premiere venue for concerts and theatrical performances. In some cases, tickets at Royal Albert Hall are free such as for English National Ballet performances or can go for as low as 6 pounds or roughly $11 - definitely a bargain in London.

To get to Royal Albert Hall and other locales, several modes of transportation are available. One of the more popular is riding tours featuring open-air, double-decker buses where, with a day pass, you can get on and off at certain tourist destinations as often as you want. But, if you are looking for a slower-paced, more birds-eye view of the Borough, there are numerous walking tours that venture down cobbled lanes and narrow streets, through courtyards and gardens and into parks, with a tour guide dispensing historical facts and amusing stories about residents and buildings along the way.

An animated two-hour tour with an Original London Walks guide named David reveals that “Old” Kensington was home to well-known Londoners like Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Isaac Newton, Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens and TS Eliot, among others. While on a walking tour you can’t help but take in the history of the Borough’s residential neighborhoods with their mixture of well-kept cottages surrounded by black wrought iron gates and townhomes with an occasional antique gas light lamp out front that’s been converted to electric. Georgian and Victorian are prominent styles for much of the Borough’s architecture.

Architecture aside, just off the beaten path of Kensington High Street - the second busiest street in London - you’ll find surprisingly peaceful nooks like Alec Clifton Taylor Memorial Gardens and St. Mary Abbots Church within easy walking distance of the other. A tree-lined courtyard frames the church’s striking front entrance – done up in Gothic Revival. Built in 1872, St. Mary’s has the highest spire (254 sq. ft.) in London.
Nearby is Kensington Square built in the 1690s. The Square’s private garden, shared and maintained by surrounding residents and accessible only by key, is one of more than 300 such private gardens in London. A small number of the Square’s original 17th century homes with grand terraces still stand.

For antique lovers, Portobello Road Antique Market is a must. The market, located in the Notting Hill section of Kensington and Chelsea Borough, is open every Saturday. On market day, throngs of tourists and Londoners traverse hundreds of small storefronts and stalls searching for bargains and rare finds. Further down Portobello Road, antique dealers thin out and vendors take over, selling trinkets, souvenirs and food. Colorful street performers blend in, entertaining the crowd for donations.

Londoners are serious about making arts and culture accessible to all. So much so that the majority of their museums have free admission. Kensington and Chelsea Borough alone has more than seven museums. A great place to start your museum trek is Brompton Road where you will find three landmark museums in close proximity to each other: The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Natural History Museum and The Science Museum.

The Victoria and Albert Museum gives visitors a comprehensive historical overview of England with its extensive collection of decorative arts that include paintings, clothing and home ware. The entrance to the exhibit area of The Natural History Museum is purely theatrical with dramatic lighting and massive sculptures beckoning you up a steep escalator and through a large replica of the earth where you are deposited in an atrium. Interactive exhibits about ecology, mammals, minerals and a host of other topics make this museum a family-friendly destination. The Science Museum is also packed with interactive exhibits tracing advancements in science and technology. A rotating schedule of IMAX films are shown throughout the day at The Science Museum. Admission is charged for entrance to IMAX, the SimEx Simulator Ride and special exhibitions at Victoria and Albert Museum, The Science Museum and The Natural History Museum.

In a city that’s more than 2,000 years old, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a virtual cornucopia of culture, food, art, architecture, fashion and history – quite an enjoyable feast for vacationers.