Hammersmith

Weather - Sunny and warm - Min 14, Max 28

The warm, sunny weather has arrived in London with the hottest day of the year so far. It’s just in time for another bank holiday weekend and there are warnings on the news about being sunsafe. We gave ourselves a rare morning off and caught up with the washing. 

At 11.30am we headed off to a wonderful restaurant called ‘Maggie Jones’s’ at Kensington. It was only a short ten minute journey from our flat via a double decker bus. I chose the restaurant because it’s been a popular one in Kensington for over sixty years serving old style English comfort food with rustic decor and has an interesting back story. 

In the 1960’s ‘Maggie Jones’ was originally called ‘Nan’s Kitchen’ and it was a favourite haunt of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones who lived nearby in Kensington Palace. It was a place Margaret could go to be away from the press and the paparazzi. She always booked the table under the alias Maggie Jones so in the 70’s the restaurant changed its name. Because of its background it’s become popular.

The small two-storey restaurant is in a side street away from the busyness of the Kensington High Street. The owner kindly seated us at the front window where wheelchairbound Lord Snowden would dine on his favourite dish, Chicken and Artichoke Pie at the round, scrubbed wooden table. I sat where he would have sat and he would have good views of the passing street parade. 

As the restaurant had just opened for the day the owner had time to talk to us about Princess Margaret and the association with the royal family. She pointed to the booth where Margaret and her friends would dine and we could see why she chose the restaurant. The high-backed corner booth on the bottom floor was  perfect for privacy.

The menu is old-time English with some good choices. We chose two courses from the set menu for £39.95. I had the duck liver patê followed by roast pork belly with apple sauce with green beans and Henk chose the pork belly followed by the apple crumble. We both shared the patê and the crumble as the serves are humongous. The host obviously knew this as without asking she brought extra cutlery and plates. All was delicious, especially the crispy pork crackling. The plates are all mismatched and many were Spode.

The restaurant decor is rustic with hanging baskets, dried flowers, old dressers, empty birdcages, buckets and old gardening tools. We both remarked that there was not a speck of dust in sight.

The host brought out an old women’s magazine which an American diner had recently given to her. She was clearly chuffed at the generosity and was going to have the cover framed for the restaurant. The magazine was devoted to Margaret and even included her measurements. She clearly was tiny as a young woman. 

After lunch we were going to go to the National Portrait Gallery but we had stayed quite some time at the restaurant and decided to take the bus home. We had a very pleasant, fascinating long lunch, our bellies were full and we needed an afternoon nap.

At six o’clock we headed out to the Thames Esplanade to make the most of the sunny, warm evening. Everyone else had the same idea and were either in the parks soaking up the sun, dining at the outdoor areas or at the pubs. All the summer gear has now come out. The Thames River tide was high and there were many small sailing boats zigzagging across the river. 

We walked west and after 45 mins we reached Fulham Palace, the historic house of the Bishop of London. The position is currently vacant after the previous Bishop was appointed recently as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The palace was closed but we could walk around the stately buildings and the garden. 

We arrived back at the flat ready in time for the ‘1% Club’ game show at eight o’clock. Even after the 1.5 hour walk we weren’t hungry so we settled for yoghurt for dinner.

Tomorrow is our last full day of sightseeing before heading out to the airport on Sunday.