Camden

TOP TRAVEL TIP:

BUS 31 FROM AROUND THE CORNER IN PEMBRIDGE ROAD, NEAR THE ABBEY COURT NOTTING HILL,  TAKES YOU DIRECTLY TO CAMDEN TOWN STATION IN 30 MINS. NO FUSSING WITH CHANGING TRAINS, NO STAIRS OR FAULTY ESCALATORS TO TROUBLE YOU. VIRTUALLY DOOR TO DOOR, AND BACK TO NOTTING HILL GATE.

CAMDEN MARKET : SEE OUR SEPARATE SECTION DEDICATED ENTITLED "CAMDEN MARKET" FOR FULL DETAILS. 

Camden – Camden is notorious for its lively markets, which surge with thousands of shoppers each weekend.

Camden Canals – In what other city could you see lovely canals, an aviary, and the sight of burrowing warthogs on a single walk?

Tube: Camden

Out of the station, follow Kentish Town Road past the Devonshire armS, cross Regent’s Canal Bridge and immediately descend the stairway to your left. This will take you down to Regent’s Canal, which opened in 1820 and was built to link the Grand Junction canal at Paddington with the River Thames at Limehouse.

Kentish Town Road Lock is followed by Hawley Lack.

The canal-side path leads up into Camden Market’s West Yard, where water bus trips depart Saturday and Sunday throughout the day. Continue along the canal walking under the bridges, until the giant peaked nets of the Snowdon Aviary appear.

Constructed from 1962 to 1964 by, among others, Queen Margarets’ ex-husband, Tony Armstrong-Jones, the aviary made pioneering use of aluminium in its infrastructure. Less architecturally impressive is an enclosure across the canal for the warthogs of London Zoo. Pass under Primrose Hill Bridge, then follow the path up and over it.

Enter Regent’s Park at Monkey Gate. Stay left on the perimeter of the zoo until you reach the fountain erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. Turn right and follow the Broad Walk to exit the park. Park Square will lead to Regent’s Park tube station.

Regent’s Canal and Park – From Little Venice walk along a tranquil waterway and into Regent’s Park, once Henry VIII’s hunting ground.

Tube: Warwick Avenue

From the station, follow the signs for Little Venice. Step down onto the Canal towpath by the moored narrow boats and barges, one of which is the Puppet Theatre Barge. Going left, the entrance to Maida Vale Tunnel will appear, with a small café perched precariously above it. Cross the busy A5 road and head straight into Aberdeen Place to find the gloriously ornate Crockers Folly pub. Across from the pub, follow the steps descending to the canal footpath over the other bank, Cross the canal on Primrose Hill footbridge to Regent’s Park, developed by the son of George III and John Nash in 1810.

Walking along the edge of London Zoo the house of the US Ambassador is visible over to the far right, built by Barbara Hutton a.k.a. Mrs Cary Grant. As the zoo’s boundary ends, the Indian Fountain is around the corner on Broad Walk, where you turn right. The stunning white Georgian terraces that line the park were built by Nash as a visual backdrop for a royal palace that was never constructed; they are still mostly owned by the Royal Family.

A right turn at Chester Road reveals the gilded gates into the Inner Circle of Queen Mary’s Gardens, with its open-air theatre and more than 400 rose varieties in the beautiful rose gardens. More gilded gates lead south, out of the garden and onto York Bridge. Turn left along the Outer circle. A right into Park Square Walk brings you to the Regent’s Park tube.  

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