Perfect London accommodation for a large group.
The house has 7 well appointed bedrooms across 4 floors in a very desirable Georgian period square near Clerkenwell/Farringdon. The bedrooms are individually lockable and some of them are en-suite. It feels like it has very recently been fitted out and to a very high standard. On the basement floor there is a kitchen and living room taking up most of the floor and an outdoor yard area (for smokers?) with seating. Kitchen is large and has everything you need - including an enormous selection of fruit (though whether the hosts always do that is not something I could know). Throughout the house there are plenty of toilets and bathrooms.
The location is perfect, easy walking distance from Islington/Angel, 10 mins walk from St Pancras/Kings Cross. 5 mins from Exmouth market.
The host - Luis - was wonderful, welcoming, friendly, chatty, attentive and helpful. Mindful that security is always a concern he spent the first few minutes after we arrived, programming our thumbprints into the internal door's security system - just took 30 seconds for each of us. The outer door is lockable also.
The only concern I had when we arrived was the noticeable sound of the trains going past and - as a light sleeper - I thought I may struggle to stay asleep. But it was not a problem. The line is close by and the trains tend to stop around midnight and restart about 5-ish but it did not stop me sleeping through.
We had a leak - I guess with a 200 year old house these things will occasionally happen - but it was pretty minor and no damage - I only mention because it showed how quick our hosts were to deal with it: we let Luis and Iona know it was fixed within a couple of hours!
We went to two local restaurants - Sen Viet on Kings Cross Road - mind-glowingly fantastic Vietnamese food - you absolutely need to book! And also the Banana Tree at Angel - good quality but just had a touch of the chain about it. A little further afield (15 mins?) and on our way back from the British Museum we went to Ciao Bella in Bloomsbury which was awesome - very traditional and atmospheric (i.e. noisy and a bit hectic!) Italian but perfect quality and great price. Just for the sake of completeness I will give a mention to the 2 other places we ate during our stay - Royal China on Baker Street for Dim Sum - best in London! And the Chettinad in Percy Street off Tottenham Court Road - stunning South Indian cuisine. This was a 3-day trip and the aforementioned list of restaurants explains why I am half a stone heavier than I was a week ago.
There were 6 chaps in our group and each year - barring pandemics - we go to a major European city and take in the culture, eat and drink copiously and play a few hands of poker. This place was perfect for us and each of us agreed that we will return to Luis & Iona's property in future - potentially multiple times - if they'll have us!
I should also have mentioned the proximity of the location to a good canal walk. Up Kings Cross road, and 5 mins past the station you are at Granary Square - interesting industrial redevelopment - loved the gasometers turned into apartments at Lewis Cubitt Square... suspect they may be outside my price bracket. But walk along the canal for a mile and you are at Camden Lock where we mindbogglingly managed to fit in another meal - recommendations for the Jalfrezi Bhaji-burger and 8-hour Beef Rendang stalls.
The Perfect Stay!