Holland Park of Kensington

#europeonbudget Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to the west, Holland Park Avenue to the north, and Kensington Church Street to the east. Adjacent districts are Notting Hill to the north, Earl's Court to the south, and Shepherd's Bush to the northwest. Holland Park provides a much needed large open space in West London. Bounded on the south by the busy High Street Kensington and to the north by Holland Park Road, the traffic noise fades quickly when you are in the park. The park has sporting facilities - playing fields and tennis courts. It also has a live music venue (Holland Park Opera) in the centre of the park. Despite these, the overall feel is of a park and neither sporting nor music detract from the tranquility. Most of the northern part of the park is woodland, with some unusual trees. In the centre of the park are a series of more formal gardens - including a rose garden, Dutch garden, Mediterranean garden and Japanese gardens. It was these formal gardens that were so disappointing. I thought to start with I'd arrived between seasons - spring plants had been removed and summer bedding had not been planted. The ground in the Dutch garden was bare between the hedges. The same for the Napoleon garden...The perennial planting was no better - the planting by Ted's gate was in much need of weeding. The area around the orangery looked OK from a distance but when you got close it was full of thistles and bind weed. The roses were OK, but looked rather bare without any underplanting. I'm not sure if the garden staff have been put on furlough, but there was not enough time going into it to keep up with maintenance. The highlight of the park is the Kyoto garden, this can get a bit busy so if you want to find calm, best to come early, late or on a week day to visit. The visitors all seemed to be respecting the park and showing responsibility, it is with the Council to step up and put the necessary resources in to properly maintain this wonderful resource.