The Portobello

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NOTTING HILL IS THE PERFECT SETTING for London’s original boutique townhouse hotel. Still a favoured haunt of the creative set, The Portobello epitomises the area's raffish boho-chic.

Overlooking a pretty garden square, it's a white neo-classical townhouse flanked by sculpted box trees. Inside, The Portobello flaunts its eccentricities – both among the guests (Kate Moss and then boyfriend Johnny Depp once reportedly filled a bath with champagne here) and in the exotically themed bedrooms. The mood is very much antique-filled '80s retro.

From basement boudoirs with private courtyards to intimate attic eyries, rooms at The Portobello are a play on rich and moody colours, arty antiques, colourful Edwardiana, decadent clawfoot baths and diverting objets trouvés. Expect the unconventional in this townhouse London hideaway.

Colourful Edwardiana

Feature rooms are designed for love-ins and late-night trysts. Take one of the themed rooms: go Moroccan, go Victorian, go Japanese, or simply go to bed here. We opted for Room 16, with its gold and white decor and Boogie Nights-style round bed. This room also has an ingenious butler's pantry stocked with champers and a real Edwardian bathing machine. Our balcony looked over the pretty gardens, letting us wake to the sound of birdsong with our breakfast in bed next day.

Other sought-after rooms include Room 6, with its opulent gold clawfoot bath, and the Japanese style Room 1, with its spa bath and private patio. One of the attic rooms has smoked glass mirrors over the bed, while Room 38 has a contemporary feel with a suede headboard and sleek fittings.

Downstairs, guests can make themselves at home in the colonial-style lounge, with its tall parlour ferns, Indian coffee tables and squashy sofas. Call in for a drink in the evening or have a sociable breakfast with fellow guests.

You’re in one of London's trendiest neighbourhoods here: minutes from Portobello Road and its famous antique market, and the deliciously boutique-y shops of Westbourne Grove. What's more, you can stroll through leafy Georgian terraces to atmospheric Julie’s restaurant – run by The Portobello's owners – for some seductive candlelit dining.