Weekend break in London

AS the butler completed our guided tour of the building and led us to our fifth-floor en-suite bedroom, where we sipped champagne and looked through the windows across Kensington Gardens to Kensington Palace, one thing was clear: this was certainly no bargain basement break in a budget hotel.

We were staying instead at The Milestone, voted No 1 British hotel in Conde Nast’s Gold List World’s Best Hotels 2009, having travelled down to the capital from York in the comfort of a Grand Central train.

The train crew offered excellent customer care, but the Milestone takes the concept a step further: this is a hotel where there are two members of staff for each guest and they will even unpack your bags for you, and would probably squeeze out your toothpaste if you asked, Prince Charles-style.

Royalty kept cropping up during our stay. As well as Kensington Palace, where a sea of flowers was created following the death 13 years ago of one its most famous residents, Princess Diana, there was the Royal Albert Hall and the restored Albert Memorial just down the road. And only a ten-minute taxi ride away was Buckingham Palace, where we were later to see some of the extensive art collection of Victoria and Albert in the Queens Gallery.

Even the hotel had a connection to a former monarch – a previous building on the site was the residence of one of James II’s mistresses, Lady Susan Belasyses.

The present building, named after a milestone just outside, was created in 1880, became a hotel in 1928, was badly damaged by a fire in 1986 and then underwent a huge restoration to become the five-star establishment it is today.

Each bedroom is individually designed, tastefully decorated and with an air of understated elegance.

Downstairs, the lounge was all antique furniture, original oil paintings and flower displays, while in the basement there was a gym, sauna and an extremely small pool - a “resistance” pool where jets of water are thrust at you leaving you to swim against the flow.

After a short swim, we decided to hit the high street, the famous Kensington High Street, where we found all the major chains and some individual fashion boutiques, but failed to spot a celeb.

From there, it was a short stroll to Kensington Gardens to visit the palace, a Royal residence since the 17th century, which is in the middle of a £12 million restoration programme and is currently hosting a stunning exhibition, dubbed the Enchanted Palace. Outside we saw a bouquet of flowers tied to a gate, in memory of the Princess of Wales. Inside, the atmospherically lit State Apartments, leading fashion designers including Vivienne Westwood, in conjunction with UK theatre company Wildworks, have created spectacular installations, taking inspiration from the princesses who once lived there, including Victoria before she became Queen, Princess Margaret and, of course, Diana, one of whose dresses can also be seen. Professional actors roam the palace, adding a frisson of extra interest for visitors.

The following day, after a huge English breakfast, it was time to check out, but we decided to leave our bags in the butler’s safe hands while we headed off to Buckingham Palace to visit the Queen’s Gallery, which hosts a programme of changing exhibitions from the Royal Collection.

Until the end of October, it is hosting Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, featuring more than 400 paintings and other objects which the couple collected and exchanged with each other from the time of their engagement until Albert’s untimely death in 1861. Some of the nude paintings tended to belie the traditional image of Victoria as a prude and the exhibition challenges the popular image of Victoria as the melancholy widow of 40 years, and reveals her as a passionate and open-minded young woman.

Fact file

To contact the Milestone, phone 0207 917 1000 or go to milestonehotel.com

• For information about Kensington Palace, phone 0844 482 7777 or go to hrp.org.uk/kensingtonpalace

• For information about the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace, call 0207 766 7300 or go to royalcollection.org.uk

• For information on Grand Central trains, call 0845 6034852 or go to grandcentralrail.co.uk