Notting Hill Apartments

 When it's gentrification began some years ago, Notting Hill became known as the home of the "Trustafarians" (trust fund + Rastafarian), those twenty- and thirty-somethings who emerged from their privileged backgrounds and/or private schools in search of a kind of bohemia, albeit luxurious. So although gradually regenerated over the past decades and brought into the world's public consciousness by a movie starring Julie Roberts and Hugh Grant, Notting Hill represents a determined effort to preserve the air of an arty-funky lifestyle.

Walking around the designer shops and trendy cafes of Notting Hill today, you would never suspect that as late as the 1950's this was one of London's most impoverished areas, nor would you immediately recognize that it is the centre for the city's Afro-Caribbean culture. The latter distinction is celebrated every August Bank Holiday weekend, when the Notting Hill Carnival swings into gear and around two million people pour into W11 and W2 for days and nights of colourful pageantry, dance music and street-fair fun.

Fortunately for year-round visitors, the atmosphere epitomised by this event can be experienced more than once a year. Every weekend the antiques market on Portobello Road - the area's spiritual and geographical backbone - adds a suitable dash of gritty urbanism and multicultural vibe, while providing useful relics of old Victoriana. Shops and pubs lining the north end of Portobello Road represent the new blood in terms of talent and artistic edge whilst the convergence of Ledbury Road and Westbourne Grove is a smorgasbord of designers, galleries and eateries that could easily hold you in their thrall for an afternoon.