Twenty years ago, while visiting London with my family, we stayed in a flat on a street called The Little Boltons. Located in the Brompton District of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, I remember the location being convenient to the Earl’s Court Tube Station (which we utilized a number of times), Kensington Palace, and the Victoria and Albert Museum; it was also a nice change from hotels in commercial areas. It’s a neighborhood, and a wonderful place to stay if traveling with children as we were at the time.
The Little Boltons form part of the Boltons Conservation Area built between 1850 and 1870, with The Boltons (mansions at a much greater price) to the east. The word ‘little’ is deceptive. A Maisonette (main floor and ground level residence) on this road is currently listed for sale at £6,950,000. This neighborhood is described as being premiere property in the city of London, and I assume most aren’t leased as short-term rentals.
Our stay was in a beautiful semi-detached house, with four flats occupying the structure. Entrance was through the front door for all residents, then each flat had its own private entrance once inside. There was one flat per floor. A lovely garden was shared via the back courtyard.
Early in our visit, the resident of the main floor flat greeted us as we returned from a day of sightseeing. I remember her kindness, and the welcome manner she exuded to a couple of American tourists with young children in tow. She invited us inside her home, chatting about the city, and inquiring of our interests and what we had planned for our visit. The traditional furnishings gracing her reception room, the elegant fireplace directly opposite the door, and the beautiful bay window overlooking the front of the residence remain clear in my mind. Imagine inviting complete strangers into your home; an invitation not extended very often two decades ago, but certainly a rare event in today’s world.
Her name was Shelley Vaughan Williams. I recall mentioning my interest in writing and someday hoping to publish a book. She was very interested, encouraging, and eventually disclosed that she penned one, as well. Entitled When Gazelles Leap, and published in 1997, the book is an anthology of poetry and prose, written after she sustained a critical brain aneurysm. She graciously gave us a copy, inscribing it with a personal message.
I wish there had been enough time to get to know her; if instant access to information around the world had been available then, it would have been easier to do. She was an accomplished woman, and according to her bio in the book, “Profoundly Pro-American”. This might explain her interest in us. Shelley Vaughan Williams passed in 2016 at the age of 87.
As for the neighborhood, a search on Google (as I did for researching this post) will reveal the number of prominent people who have at one time owned one of the mansions in The Boltons. However, my husband and I were surprised at discovering someone who called The Little Boltons home at one time.
At the corner of Old Brompton Road and The Little Boltons, Lady Diana Spencer lived for two years in 60 Coleherne Court while engaged to Prince Charles. Her parents bought the flat for her, which she shared with three roommates. All of the paparazzi photographs of her at the time outside of her apartment were less than a two-minute walk from where we stayed. As my husband asked once I told him of the discovery, “How many times did we walk past it?” We didn’t know at the time, as there were no markers indicating it. Her death occurred in 1997, four years before we stayed there. I read that a marker is in the works to commemorate what would’ve been her 60th birthday.
To end, a poem from When Gazelles Leap by Shelley Vaughan Williams.
The Inbetween
How do we live and how do we die?
What happens in between?
A child or two who grows away
A marriage or not,
Forget-me-not,
And rue and rosemary.
But sometimes inbetween
The monotony proceeding
A star shoots up in the vast night sky
Brave force of love and being
And moonlight, moon-bright,
The inbetween
Is suddenly a rosary.
