Intend on taking a large tribe up to the museums on Sunday 22nd
October. The train/tube for all of us is over 160 quid, plus takes
about 1 hour longer in the car. Tempted to drive and would only do this
on a Sunday.

Here's the options I've found out about for seeing the South Kensington
museums on a Sunday. I'd really appreciate any advice here or extra
tips:

(1) Imperial College Car Park, South Kensington. Is there any chance
that there will be a space on a Sunday about lunch-time? Does it get
full on a Sunday? I don't mind how much it is, although wouldn't mind
knowing how much, as their website doesn't say.

(2) Street Parking. If we find a space on the single yellow, and read
the sign to make sure it's not a 'Resident Only' then any chance of
street parking around there? Any top tips or locations?

(3) Paid Car Park. I need a backup plan if all of the above go horribly
wrong. Any recommendation of the best paid carpark for the Sunday in
that area? Remember, this is a backup plan so I don't mind a short tube
ride, although lots of pushchairs will make that a bit harder, though
not impossible.

Thanks for any help or advice!

D

wrote:
Intend on taking a large tribe up to the museums on Sunday 22nd
October. The train/tube for all of us is over 160 quid, plus takes
about 1 hour longer in the car. Tempted to drive and would only do this
on a Sunday.

Here's the options I've found out about for seeing the South Kensington
museums on a Sunday. I'd really appreciate any advice here or extra
tips:

(1) Imperial College Car Park, South Kensington. Is there any chance
that there will be a space on a Sunday about lunch-time? Does it get
full on a Sunday? I don't mind how much it is, although wouldn't mind
knowing how much, as their website doesn't say.

There's usually some room on a Sunday. I couldn't tell you how much it
costs, but I would only use it as a backup option (see below).

(2) Street Parking. If we find a space on the single yellow, and read
the sign to make sure it's not a 'Resident Only' then any chance of
street parking around there? Any top tips or locations?

Yes - but you may need to drive around a bit. Exhibition Road is
restricted from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays (resident control and
pay-and-display) but if you go round the "back" of the Science Museum on
Queen's Gate, there are spaces on both sides of both carriageways (i.e.
four rows of spaces) and residents' parking is not in operation on
Sundays. Park along there and you can walk round to the Science Museum
in a few minutes via either Imperial College Road or Cromwell Road. If
you can't get a space on Queen's Gate itself, try any of the side roads
off the western side.

(3) Paid Car Park. I need a backup plan if all of the above go horribly
wrong. Any recommendation of the best paid carpark for the Sunday in
that area? Remember, this is a backup plan so I don't mind a short tube
ride, although lots of pushchairs will make that a bit harder, though
not impossible.

Not too sure about paid car parks (I've never used any round there!) but
there is one on the corner of Harrington Road and Queen's Gate. It's not
a very high-tech affair - pretty much just a patch of derelict land used
for parking.

A word of warning - traffic can be quite bad on Sunday evening along the
A4 and along the A3220 (West Cross Route and Earl's Court one way system).

If you run into difficulties driving/parking, then there are various car
parks off Kensington High Street (two stops round to South Kensington on
the Tube, or bus routes 49 and 70 which are both low floor so should be
OK with pushchairs), a fairly big one in Fulham Broadway (bus routes 14
and 414, or District line with lifts available at Fulham). If the
traffic is really bad for some reason on the way in, there are also car
parks on the Piccadilly line at Hatton Cross, Hounslow East/west (the
latter is free on Sundays and just off the A4/M4 J3), North Ealing,
South Harrow, Osterley and Sudbury Town, all of which would deliver you
to South Kensington in roughly 30 minutes or less. Saying that, I still
think you should be able to find on-street parking within a five minute
walk.


--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On 16 Oct 2006 14:17:35 -0700, wrote:

Intend on taking a large tribe up to the museums on Sunday 22nd
October. The train/tube for all of us is over 160 quid, plus takes
about 1 hour longer in the car. Tempted to drive and would only do this
on a Sunday.

£160?? How many people is that? Do railway compaies still do group
tickets? Thay may help.

Surely is you have that number of people parking, not to mention the
costs of running n cars, wll add up. Why not hire a coach?

Ken Wheatley wrote:
On 16 Oct 2006 14:17:35 -0700, wrote:

Intend on taking a large tribe up to the museums on Sunday 22nd
October. The train/tube for all of us is over 160 quid, plus takes
about 1 hour longer in the car. Tempted to drive and would only do this
on a Sunday.

£160?? How many people is that? Do railway compaies still do group
tickets? Thay may help.

Surely is you have that number of people parking, not to mention the
costs of running n cars, wll add up. Why not hire a coach?

Hi Ken. There are 2 adults and 3 kids (all science mad). Using
http://www.thetrainline.com the cheapest we can get from where we are
to London is 151.20GBP, and it takes much longer door to door too.
We're down in Dorchester and I've driven it before in about 2:30h
(M27/M3, especially on a Sunday). The train/tube will take about 3:45h
if we're lucky, plus changes and pushchairs/lifts. We all fit in a 1.1
engine car. We don't use the train enough to justify a family
rail-card? The kids really love the train, and I don't particularly
like driving, but for the time/price I didn't think it made sense. PS.
Wouldn't do this on any other day but a Sunday...

Thanks for the advice Dave - appreciated!

Dave Arquati wrote:
wrote:
Intend on taking a large tribe up to the museums on Sunday 22nd
October. The train/tube for all of us is over 160 quid, plus takes
about 1 hour longer in the car. Tempted to drive and would only do this
on a Sunday.

Here's the options I've found out about for seeing the South Kensington
museums on a Sunday. I'd really appreciate any advice here or extra
tips:

(1) Imperial College Car Park, South Kensington. Is there any chance
that there will be a space on a Sunday about lunch-time? Does it get
full on a Sunday? I don't mind how much it is, although wouldn't mind
knowing how much, as their website doesn't say.

There's usually some room on a Sunday. I couldn't tell you how much it
costs, but I would only use it as a backup option (see below).

(2) Street Parking. If we find a space on the single yellow, and read
the sign to make sure it's not a 'Resident Only' then any chance of
street parking around there? Any top tips or locations?

Yes - but you may need to drive around a bit. Exhibition Road is
restricted from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays (resident control and
pay-and-display) but if you go round the "back" of the Science Museum on
Queen's Gate, there are spaces on both sides of both carriageways (i.e.
four rows of spaces) and residents' parking is not in operation on
Sundays. Park along there and you can walk round to the Science Museum
in a few minutes via either Imperial College Road or Cromwell Road. If
you can't get a space on Queen's Gate itself, try any of the side roads
off the western side.

(3) Paid Car Park. I need a backup plan if all of the above go horribly
wrong. Any recommendation of the best paid carpark for the Sunday in
that area? Remember, this is a backup plan so I don't mind a short tube
ride, although lots of pushchairs will make that a bit harder, though
not impossible.

Not too sure about paid car parks (I've never used any round there!) but
there is one on the corner of Harrington Road and Queen's Gate. It's not
a very high-tech affair - pretty much just a patch of derelict land used
for parking.

A word of warning - traffic can be quite bad on Sunday evening along the
A4 and along the A3220 (West Cross Route and Earl's Court one way system).

If you run into difficulties driving/parking, then there are various car
parks off Kensington High Street (two stops round to South Kensington on
the Tube, or bus routes 49 and 70 which are both low floor so should be
OK with pushchairs), a fairly big one in Fulham Broadway (bus routes 14
and 414, or District line with lifts available at Fulham). If the
traffic is really bad for some reason on the way in, there are also car
parks on the Piccadilly line at Hatton Cross, Hounslow East/west (the
latter is free on Sundays and just off the A4/M4 J3), North Ealing,
South Harrow, Osterley and Sudbury Town, all of which would deliver you
to South Kensington in roughly 30 minutes or less. Saying that, I still
think you should be able to find on-street parking within a five minute
walk.


--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

wrote:

Hi Ken. There are 2 adults and 3 kids (all science mad). Using
http://www.thetrainline.com the cheapest we can get from where we are
to London is 151.20GBP, and it takes much longer door to door too.
We're down in Dorchester and I've driven it before in about 2:30h
(M27/M3, especially on a Sunday). The train/tube will take about 3:45h
if we're lucky, plus changes and pushchairs/lifts. We all fit in a 1.1
engine car. We don't use the train enough to justify a family
rail-card? The kids really love the train, and I don't particularly
like driving, but for the time/price I didn't think it made sense. PS.
Wouldn't do this on any other day but a Sunday...

FYI, you can do the journey for £101.60 (with One Day Travelcards all
round), *including the cost of a Family Railcard*. I understand this
might still be a bit steep, especially given the extra time involved,
but worth bearing in mind if you find yourself in a similar situation
in future.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

In article . com,
() wrote:

Hi Ken. There are 2 adults and 3 kids (all science mad). Using
http://www.thetrainline.com the cheapest we can get from where we
are to London is 151.20GBP, and it takes much longer door to door too.
We're down in Dorchester

Does that include a Network Card discount? Worth buying a card just for
this trip.

nationalrail.co.uk gives an off peak day travelcard fare of £81.60, so
£101.60 all-in if you have no Network Card and you can use it for the
rest of the year for discounted off-peak rail travel in the South East.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:43:46 +0100, Dave Arquati
wrote:

Yes - but you may need to drive around a bit. Exhibition Road is
restricted from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays (resident control and
pay-and-display) but if you go round the "back" of the Science Museum on
Queen's Gate, there are spaces on both sides of both carriageways (i.e.
four rows of spaces) and residents' parking is not in operation on
Sundays.

Are you sure the pay bays are active on Sundays then? The residents'
ones are but I thought the p&d were not chargeable on Sundays? Worth
noting Exhibition Road is divided between Westminster and Ken&Ch
(makes a big difference on Sat afternoons) so rules vary by boundary.
The middle bits of Exhibition road are single yellow - it feels odd to
park in the middle of the road but legal at times.

If people arrive early enough (before lunchtime) try either Exhibition
Rd, the streets Dave advises, or around South Ken tube station which
is all single yellow and free. It's across Cromwell Road but a short
stroll. Anyone paying for parking in this area on Sundays is throwing
good money away!

--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

"Colum Mylod" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 22:43:46 +0100, Dave Arquati
wrote:

Yes - but you may need to drive around a bit. Exhibition Road is
restricted from 1pm to 5pm on Sundays (resident control and
pay-and-display) but if you go round the "back" of the Science Museum on
Queen's Gate, there are spaces on both sides of both carriageways (i.e.
four rows of spaces) and residents' parking is not in operation on
Sundays.

Are you sure the pay bays are active on Sundays then? The residents'
ones are but I thought the p&d were not chargeable on Sundays? Worth
noting Exhibition Road is divided between Westminster and Ken&Ch
(makes a big difference on Sat afternoons) so rules vary by boundary.
The middle bits of Exhibition road are single yellow - it feels odd to
park in the middle of the road but legal at times.

If people arrive early enough (before lunchtime) try either Exhibition
Rd, the streets Dave advises, or around South Ken tube station which
is all single yellow and free. It's across Cromwell Road but a short
stroll. Anyone paying for parking in this area on Sundays is throwing
good money away!

I would add to the above list:
P&D bays on south side of Prince Consort Road.
Queen's Gate Terrace and streets to the south of it (they're in K&C rather
than Westminster).
Single Yellers on Kensington Road/Gore (i.e. between the Albert Memorial and
the Albert Hall.

Watch out for:
Diplomatic parking bays.
Resident's parking around the Albert Hall - this all runs 0800-2200 Mon-Sun,
and you *will* be towed.

David A Stocks

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:

nationalrail.co.uk gives an off peak day travelcard fare of £81.60, so
£101.60 all-in if you have no Network Card and you can use it for the
rest of the year for discounted off-peak rail travel in the South East.

Good point. It's often forgotten that the Network Railcard has almost
all of the same properties as the Family Railcard (other than that
adult(s) with no children are an acceptable group, and the gbp10
minimum fare), and might be a better choice for those who will travel
with their family as a one-off then use it themselves afterwards.

Neil