Roger Hermiston and Eileen Wise find country-house intimacy, striking art, and royal connections at The Milestone Hotel Kensington London
The white painted, cast-iron stone road sign standing outside the entrance to Kensington’s five-star Milestone Hotel tells a story about the capital city in days gone by – but still manages to say something about its location today.
‘Kensington Parish – London 1½, Hounslow 8½’, the black lettering of the milestone (the hotel takes its name from this historical artefact) reads. Back in 1689, when today’s hotel was first built as a private residence, this was a rural area and Kensington was a small village on the Great Western Road, popular for its proximity to the City but retaining its country air.
Of course the vast London metropolis long ago swallowed up villages like Kensington, Hampstead and Greenwich. Yet The Milestone Hotel, just away from the hustle and bustle of Kensington High Street and directly opposite the vast green spaces of Kensington Gardens, still feels as if it has a foot in the countryside. One black and white photograph on a wall outside the hotel’s pretty Victorian style sitting room, dated 1948, even has sheep grazing just over the road in the Gardens.
So with the park and gardens just yards away, but also with the Royal Albert Hall, Harrods and the clothing emporiums of High Street Kensington nearby, The Milestone scores highly on location. But as we quickly discovered, this boutique establishment has so much more to offer once you’ve received your cheery welcome from the top-hatted doorman and stepped inside its doors.
Artwork at The Milestone Hotel London
You immediately sense a warm, intimate atmosphere that many elite hotels lack. Set in a trio of historic Victorian buildings, The Milestone’s public areas often have wood-panelled walls and lead windows that pay homage to its past, but plenty of vibrant colours and furnishings in the rooms that give it a warm, cosy feel – the feel, to a certain extent, of an English country house.
In the nooks and crannies and around unexpected corners you will discover some outstanding artwork – as good as any we have seen in London hotels of this calibre. The work of the French caricaturist Georges Goursat, better known by his pen name ‘Sem’, takes pride of place on several walls. His witty depictions of leading French politicians and society figures during the Belle Epoque period are an absolute delight.
As are, in very different style, the works of Belgian-born racing journalist, Elie Lambert, who has put his profound knowledge of horses and the racing world to create paintings of striking colour and energy, complemented by a mastery of composition, form and balance. Elie’s paintings (which also have a touch of caricature about them) appropriately dominate the stylish, newly renovated Stables Bar, named after its location on the site of the property’s former stables. Here we would enjoy excellent cocktails ahead of our dinner – Roger the signature ‘Society of Exploration’ (a mango vodka with dragon fruit and lemon juice), and Eileen her preferred traditional margarita.
Still on the subject of paintings, there is a portrait of Noel Coward that normally hangs in the attractive Park Lounge, the great actor and playwright looking as flamboyant as ever in a bolero-style hat. On the day we took lunch there it was absent, away for cleaning, but after our meal we were led up to our room on the third floor – No 308, none other than the Noel Coward Suite.
Noel Coward Suite
Coward doesn’t seem to have had any specific connection to The Milestone, but his spirit and verve will have imbued its early days as a hotel in the 1920s and – who knows – he may have dined, or stayed here. Certainly he is the very embodiment of Englishness and that is very much on The Milestone’s calling card.
The Noel Coward is one of twelve luxury suites, and the hotel also has 44 rooms and six long-stay apartments. This ‘Grand Master’ suite features surely the best views in the house over to Kensington Gardens – and is remarkably spacious. Down the leopard print carpeted staircase, turn right and there’s a lovely light-filled bedroom-cum-sitting room, with super king-sized bed, sofa, antique Japanese and Italian chairs and rare Louis XV writing desk.
There are Art Deco flourishes, with black Murano side tables next to the bed and a collection of brass pendant clock mirrors above it. On the other side of the stairway is one of the largest walk-in dressing rooms you could wish to see, with double wardrobes, dressing-table and plenty of space for suitcases. In the dining-room area, on the table, a little treat was in store – a delicious chocolate cake which we fought hard not to eat all at once.
But the pièce de résistance in this 680 foot square space has to be beyond the bronzed mirrored double doors at the end of the suite – an enormous, striking black and white marbled bathroom, ‘Chanel style’ as our guide put it. There’s a large dual basin sink, an ample bath tub and walk-in shower that’s easy to operate (unlike many in modern hotels) – and enough room to kick a football around.
Beatrice Tollman
The inspiration behind The Milestone you see today (it has been a hotel since 1922) is South African born Beatrice – ‘Bea’ – Tollman, who poured her passion and skill into it after acquiring it for her family-run Red Carnation Hotel Collection in 1998. Now in her early 90s, Bea’s influence over her family’s eighteen properties worldwide remains undimmed – none more so than in the area of food.
On the table in our Noel Coward suite sat Bea’s book My Life in Food, which charts her and her husband Stanley’s rise as hoteliers from humble beginnings in Johannesburg. There is, naturally, a selection of her favourite recipes, several of which still feature on the menu of The Milestone’s restaurant The Cheneston (which derives its name from an early spelling of Kensington).
So as we sat down at our table in The Cheneston that evening – a lovely, intimate fine dining venue, with charming yet discreet waiters – we felt duty-bound to pick one of Bea’s special creations. Her chicken noodle soup was on the menu as a starter, but we opted instead for her signature dish, the chicken and bacon pot, an illustration of her preference for ‘delicious comfort food … tasty and satisfying, without too much complication or fuss’. And it was certainly all of that, as was her baked vanilla cheesecake which we chose to follow.
Stuffed to the gills, a late night stroll along Kensington Road was essential afterwards. Ordinarily a visit to the gym and a swim in the resistance pool might have been on the cards the following day, but the hotel’s excellent health club and spa facilities were in the middle of an upgrade when we visited.
A Stroll in Kensington Gardens and Kensington Palace
We properly stretched our legs the following morning. After a fortifying breakfast back in the Park Lounge – coffee, granola, fruit, toast and an excellent eggs benedict with both ham and salmon – we crossed over the road into Kensington Gardens.
It was a glorious spring day and Londoners of all ages, shapes and sizes were out strolling, picnicking, playing games or quietly reading. After a brief detour to the Round Pond, where the swans were queuing up for easy pickings from the visitors, we made our way to Kensington Palace for our visit to the state rooms and a permanent exhibition about the childhood of Queen Victoria.
It was William III who had the palace built here back in the late 17th century, quickly expanding what had been a humble two-story Jacobean mansion named Nottingham House. The great architects and designers of the age – Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor and Sir John Vanburgh – were all summoned in coming decades to make this a residence fit for a king or queen.
These days the official London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Kensington Palace has housed all manner of Royals over the years. More recently, Princess Margaret occupied Apartment 1A for many years, through the birth of her daughter Sarah and then divorce to the Earl of Snowdon; Diana Princess of Wales lived here for 16 years, remaining after her divorce to Prince Charles. It was here that she recorded her fateful interview with Panorama, and it was here, after her tragic death in 1997, that over a million bouquets were placed at the gates in tribute.
Memories of Diana abounded in the latest exhibition here entitled ‘Dress Code’, including the famous photographs of her by Mario Testino, showing her at her glowing best, a sparkly red evening dress of hers designed by Bruce Oldfield, and another (red) suit courtesy of Jasper Conran.
A tour of the state rooms illustrated clearly that Kensington Palace was the heart of the monarchy in the 18th century, a political space as much as a social and personal one for king and queen. One could not fail to be impressed by the opulent rooms, the brilliant tapestries, beautifully engraved ceilings and the superb picture collection.
But most fascinating of all is the exhibition ‘Victoria, A Royal Childhood’, chronicling the future Queen’s time spent here from her birth in 1819 to her accession to the crown in 1837. And what a strange childhood it was. Victoria did enjoy many of the delights of growing up, her toys, dolls houses, dresses, and photographs of her favourite pet, a King Charles Spaniel named Dash, all on show.
But there were gloomy restraints on her, under the watch of her grief stricken widowed mother the Duchess of Kent and her domineering partner Sir John Conroy, the army officer who took over the role of comptroller of the household.
The pair drew up the “Kensington System Rules’, a straitjacket on young Victoria’s life if ever there was one. Amongst other things, they said she couldn’t have her own bedroom but must sleep in the same room as her mother, she couldn’t walk down the stairs unaccompanied, and she was to have a ‘simple diet, only eating plain roast mutton’.
The sinister Conroy may have had designs on power should Victoria have succeeded to the throne before she was of ‘of age’. As it was, she had reached 18 when William IV died, and there is a fine painting of her first meeting as Queen with her Privy Council, at Kensington Palace, at which all present were most impressed by her mature behaviour.
It was back to The Milestone to pick up our stowed luggage for the trip home to Suffolk. It had only been a day and a half stay, but the interest and the enjoyment had been such that it felt a whole lot longer.
The Milestone Kensington London
For more information on Milestone’s hotel, click here.
