The house was wonderful, and Al and his mother were great hosts! I was on a school trip with 14 women from my University, we were visiting London both to see the city and to visit some companies where we might work abroad. It's tough to find a place big enough for 14 semi-adult women, but the house was perfect. We had more than enough room to sleep everyone - a couple people bunked in together in the larger beds but by choice, and a lot of us got our own rooms - enough bathrooms (hallelujah!), and great common spaces in the kitchen and den on the first floor. Everything was clean, well appointed, and comfortable. The kitchen was stocked with everything we needed, including coffee and bottled water, which was a nice touch! The wifi was reliable and fast, and there were repeaters on the upstairs floors so we all had awesome internet access. The only thing even worth noting is the heat took a little time to come up to temperature so the house was a bit chilly the first night, but there were extra blankets in all the rooms so we were still comfortable and totally fine for the rest of our stay. There were also only 2 house keys, which ended up being fine for us since we were mostly together, but something to note if you have a lot of people coming and going on different schedules.
The location was also ideal for us, since we were bouncing around the city all week. About a 5 minute walk to a major Tube station, Ubers were never more than a few minutes away, and it was right on the park which made for wonderful morning walks and runs. Safe and easily accessible. Definitely a family friendly neighborhood - we saw some kids taking horseback riding lessons on the trails in the park in the mornings! But there were also some great local pubs around the corner where we stopped in for dinner and drinks. We walked around the area quite a bit.
Al and his mother were great hosts. They were flexible with me when our group's arrival time changed, and his mom greeted us when we arrived to show us around the house. They made themselves available whenever we needed them but otherwise left us to enjoy our trip, perfect balance.
I would definitely recommend for large groups looking to visit London! The house served as our home base for the week while we explored, and we were equally happy to come and go in small groups or hang out there all together. Would be great for bachelor/ette parties, families, friends getting together, etc.
Thank you for giving us a lovely home for our trip!