• Play:
• Song Name: A Walk through Notting Hill and Portobello
• Artist: Robert Wright www.robert-wright.com
• Album: London Walks

This walk starts at Holland Park station on the Central Line (Zone 2) or Notting Hill Gate on the Central, Circle and District lines (Zones 1 and 2). We visit many different parts of elegant Notting Hill.

It was not always so: we see London's squalid past - the Piggeries with it's slums occupied by animals and people, and vast areas of stinking slurry - also the clay pits knowns as the Potteries. We even find an old bottle kiln remaining hidden near Pottery Lane.

The church of St James Norlands is on the route, whose architect lived locally. The architect's son was watch and clockmaker to His Majesty. Next we climb to the top of Ladbroke Grove and the church of St John the Evangelist, built in 1845 on the site of the grandstand of the Hippodrome race course. You can still see the size and shape of the horse track from the modern day road pattern.

At Clarendon Cross we see more lovely shops, including the Temple Gallery selling beautiful old icons.

After St Peter's Church the famous Portobello Road market. We walk the length of Portobello Road, with its antique shops and affordable bric a brac in the south, to the local market from fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and household goods in the north, and see the location of the movie Notting Hill starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

At the historic Electric Cinema you can watch eclectic films from the comfort of an armchair.

The walk finishes at Westbourne Park Underground station, or a 328 or 31 bus back to Notting Hill Gate.

This is a wonderfully varied walk, lasting just over an hour. The MP3 file runs for 53 minutes with pauses - but you will want to stop it and look around at all there is to see in this wonderful part of London. Some of the places are rarely visited by tourists, so download to your iPod and I'll accompany you around an area I know well.