ListingsUpdated Fri 23 Oct
Kensington London: what's on and things to do
What is on in Kensington: three free national museums within a few hundred metres of each other, the Albert Hall, and Kensington Gardens. The museum lates here are the best free evenings in London, and South Kensington station is the one to use.
What to expect
6 listings ahead in Kensington. The busiest rooms are Leighton House, Design Museum and Kensington Palace. Mostly Exhibitions and Gigs.
Nearby
Each venue above has its own page with its address, its opening hours and every date we hold for it.
Friday
23 October-
Exhibitions From £25
Kensington Palace and the sunken garden
The state apartments are ticketed, but the sunken garden outside them is free and is the bit most people photograph. Go on a weekday morning and the King's Staircase is almost empty.
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Exhibitions Free
Free entry: the Design Museum
The permanent collection upstairs costs nothing and takes about an hour. The building is the old Commonwealth Institute, and the roof is worth standing under before you look at anything.
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Free
The Kyoto Garden, Holland Park
A Japanese garden given to the borough in 1991, with koi, a waterfall and peacocks that have no fear of anyone. Free, and quietest before the school run ends.
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Exhibitions From £11
Leighton House, the Arab Hall
A Victorian painter built himself a house with a domed hall of Damascus tiles in it, and it is still there. Small, so an hour does it, and rarely busy.
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Free
Evening walk: Kensington Gardens to the Round Pond
The pond sits on the axis of the palace, so the view back at it in low light is the one the garden was laid out to give you. Twenty minutes from the High Street.
Friday
16 July-
Gigs From £8
BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Until 11 Sep
Eight weeks of concerts and the cheapest classical music in the country: promming tickets are a few pounds on the day, standing in the arena or the gallery. Queue from late afternoon.
