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All the news and views of 20 the Barons

The 2020 Guide to London Basics
for Relocators and Movers

What To Download?

Whether you’re relocating to London, moving here for a short-term contract, or just visiting, it is not just about packing the right belongings in your suitcase these days, it’s also about packing the right apps. There’s a world of developers hidden away in dingy basements – ‘silicon valets’, if you will – working away to offer instant expertise in your new city, which with a simple download you can have instantly at your fingertips.

What are the best London apps?

So, what are the essential London apps to pack, to help you unlock the secret cogs and wheels of the city in an instant? Well, Citymapper should be the first item in your survival kit. Tell it where you want to go, and it will map your journey, offer you different transport options, and pretty much hold your hand until you get there. It will help you master London’s iconic red buses so that you can explore the city properly, and also get you home any time you can’t quite manage by yourself. You could also pack your Uber although there are current question marks over their London licence and there’s also nothing quite like a London black cab. For greener travellers and an even more intimate introduction to the city, make sure you have Transport for London’s city bike app . London’s weather is not as rainy as they say, but it is very changeable, so keep one step ahead by having the Met Office Weather Forecast in your suitcase. And to plan your visits to London’s highlife and highlights, what better guide than the official Visit London app.

What are the best relocation apps?

If you’re relocating to London, then you can pack a second virtual suitcase with some organizing apps to make the move as painless as possible. If you’re bringing a lot of belongings with you, then also bring them on your phone by creating a visual inventory and checklist on Sortly. And if you want to know how you’re going to fit all that into your new home, then you can pass some travel time playing with virtual floorplans on MagicPlan. With those apps in the bag, a virtual organizer such as Evernote allows you to use your phone to coordinate all those lists you’re going to need to make. Many travellers are now travelling with virtual money, so don’t forget to pack your bank in your pocket with an app such as Monzo . And remember that relocating can be lonely in the early days, so make sure you can keep in touch for free with friendly faces back home by packing your Skype.

Learn more about 20 the Barons

Of course, your most important consideration is where you’re going to be living. At 20 the Barons, we pride ourselves on offering any local knowledge and inside information that your  apps can’t provide, so that you feel like a local in no time. And whether we’re a stepping stone or your long-term home, we offer the security and comfort of a mansion block of serviced apartments that combines period architecture with modern technology, in one of the most desirable locations in London: https://20thebarons.co.uk/.

Ali Watts

If you want to want to talk to me, Ali, this is my business and I’m a Londoner who has lived in this area all my life. We have been hosting business travellers and families from around the world for many years. I would love to talk to you about how we can help your relocation feel like you’ve not just moved house, but moved home.

t. +44 (0)208 241 3153
m. +44 (0)7972 601 613
e. alison@20thebarons.co.uk

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Live Like A Local

We are often asked, what’s the difference between a serviced apartment and a hotel? For us, one of the most important advantages of a serviced apartment is that you can feel properly at home – particularly if you are staying for a few months or longer.

While there is something exciting about a hotel when you first check in, a hotel room can become a rather lonely place if you stay for too long (Alan Partridge and Coco Chanel might disagree!). The same four walls. Having to go to the restaurant for a meal. A room that’s the same as all the other rooms. No kitchen, just a kettle. Room service just when you don’t want room service.

With a serviced apartment, you still have the excitement of checking in to an intriguing and luxurious new place. We give everyone a personal welcome to show you all the rooms, and help you familiarize yourselves instantly with all the appliances – the all-mod-cons kitchen, the hi-tech entertainment system, the luxury bathroom. We introduce the housekeeping options and show you how to work the heating and cooling. We open the doors and show you the views from the balcony. We know you might be tired after travelling, so we help you feel at home and then we leave you alone until you need us.

All of our apartments have their own styling, their own little antiques and details, to make them as individual as the people who stay in them. And you are, of course, free to add your own special touches. You are free to watch the sunset from your balcony, chat with friends on the patio, play in the garden with your kids, or take your dogs for a walk along the banks of the Thames. You are also free to cook in your own luxury kitchen, or on the barbecue in the garden. If you’re feeling lazy we’ll make sure you have the knowledge on the best local takeaways. If you’re feeling indulgent, we know the way to the best local restaurants.

We know how important it is for our guests to know what to do and where to go if you’re ill; to know how local transport works, or what the rules are if you’ve got your own transport; to know where the best places are to take your kids, the best locations if you feel like being on your own, the best pubs if you feel like being sociable. We’re not running 100 rooms or processing 1,000 guests, we’re looking after our new friends in seven luxury apartments.

That’s why our guests, however long they stay, don’t live like they are living in a hotel. They live like a local. They have local knowledge. And they seem to love it.

The Mindful Baron

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If ever there were a time to introduce mindfulness into your life, it is now. As the world grows busier, spins faster, feels crazier and becomes more crowded, it is easy to find yourself running like a hamster in a busy wheel.

At 20 The Barons, we’ve started to heed the message that in order to feel happier and healthier it is helpful to take time out for yourself; to stop and breathe for a moment every once in a while, to rebalance yourself and give some of your energy to your own wellbeing. We try to ensure that one part of the service in our serviced apartments is to make it as easy as possible for our lovely guests to do the same.

1. Make time for yourself

What many of our guests have in common is that they lead successful but very busy lives, giving so much of their time to others that there’s not much left over for themselves. We are fortunate to live within striking distance of central London but in a quiet, tree-lined crescent. Say that again a few times, “A quiet, tree-lined crescent…” It’s amazing how easy it is to meditate.

2. Breathe

While our lives depend upon the air we suck into them, we rarely stop to think about how we breathe. Taking ten minutes out to close your eyes, to experience your breathing, to feel each breath as it enters through your nose, fills your lungs and spreads through your body, and to slowly slow your breaths down, is a simple way of shutting out the rest of the world and giving yourself some attention.

3. Relax

Go and sit in our garden, we have roses for you to stop and smell. We’re also providing yoga mats for those who wish to stretch their minds and bodies. And there is nothing quite like slipping into our apartments’ luxury slipper baths, lighting a few scented candles, and zoning out beneath the bliss of bubbles. We call it ‘putting on your slippers’.

4. Be in the moment

You are wonderful. You are magical. Take some time out to remind yourself of that. Stop thinking about yesterday or worrying about that appointment you have tomorrow, and get your mind back into the present, the moment, the now. We have some beautiful parks a short walk away, and a rather lovely little river called the Thames to accompany you on your journey.

What do you do to keep yourself feeling well and happy?

A Cup of Tea

It was galling enough to watch our lionesses being recently mauled, in true errant-penalty English style (good to see they’ve learned something from the chaps!), by the USA women’s football team. But when the redoubtable US striker, Alex Morgan, celebrated her goal with apparent mockery of true English style (by not only miming the act of drinking that sacred English institution, a cup of tea, Sir!, but daring, by Jove!, to stick out her Yankie pinkie while she did so!) and simultaneously cocked a metaphorical snook at our nation of noble tea-drinkers, that nation grew apoplectic and nearly choked on its collective Earl Grey. And the ripples from that cup of tea continue to radiate out through the Twittersphere.

The Baron, on the other hand, is merely intrigued by Ms. Morgan’s signal failure of proper tea-drinking etiquette. You know, the pinkie thing. Not in the sense of ridiculing old John Bull. We have recently, after all, rather invited that. But simply insomuch as the sporting young lady has completely misrepresented the true Englishness manner of tea drinking, casting it aside like tea chests into a Boston harbor. For not even the most reckless or wilful of debutantes would ever make the heinous error of sipping her Darjeeling with little finger outstretched. It is, you see, considered vulgar, along with adding the milk before the tea has brewed, swirling instead of stirring, grasping the bowl of the cup, sipping from the spoon, looking into the tea cup instead of over it, slurping and, most heinous of all, dunking!

These tea-drinking faux pas and aberrations are, indeed, something one might expect of an American gal, not a true English gentlewoman. And so, Miss Morgan, I might dare to suggest that, whilst it would be errant of The Baron not to extend his own little finger in congratulations on your exceptional performance, in terms of tea-drinking celebration, you are a long way from winning the cup.

Britishness with The Baron

It’s a tricky time to celebrate Britishness, with all that’s going on. Here at 20 The Barons, we like
to celebrate British tradition without being stuck in the past, as we also
think of ourselves as modern, inclusive and international! So, here’s The
Baron’s poetic celebration of the best of British for all our guests, wherever
they’re from, which they might like to use as an ‘i-Spy’ checklist to brighten
their time enjoying the sights of London and further afield while they stay in
our historic, but ultra-modern, serviced apartments…

Tea and crumpets, brass band trumpets, picnic hampers, village fêtes; parks and gardens, beg your pardon, please and thank you, don’t be late; steak and kidney, pie and gravy, whelks and cockles, fish and chips; knotted hanky, Punch and Judy, naughty postcards, kiss me quick; ice-cream cornets, summer bonnets, rolled up trousers, stick of rock; boats and blazers, punts and boaters, river cruisers, sailing yachts; bright-red double-decker buses, black cab taxis, where’s my train? Endless talk about the weather, endless talk of endless rain. City markets, pin-stripe jackets, black umbrellas, bowler hats; traffic wardens, double yellows, parking meters, income tax; gin and tonic, slice of lemon, pint of lager, down the pub; Champagne, cava, cheeky snifter, pint of bitter, down the club; Sunday papers, eggs and bacon, sausage sarnie, beans on toast; Bloody Mary, Bloody Tower, bloody Brexit, Sunday roast; motte and bailey, lord and lady, garden party, royalty; Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, Tommy Cooper, Ali G; House of Commons, Clapham Common, Shakespeare’s Globe, the BBC; Monday mornings, 9 to 5ers, knock off early, cup of tea.

We celebrate seven super years at 20 The Barons

As we celebrate seven super years at 20 The Barons, we’d like to give a shout out to the Magnificent Seven serviced apartments where we do everything in our power to make sure all our wonderful guests enjoy a comfortable and relaxing stay. We’re located a short stroll from Twickenham Film Studios, and we’ve welcomed many fabulous actors through our doors, so we hope you’ll forgive the cinematic references…

Five of our apartments occupy a single mansion block on the scenic crescent of The Barons in St Margarets, near Richmond and Twickenham, and this offers our guests the security of being part of one happy band. We have on-site housekeeping staff, and our head honcho Ali is always available to ensure life is good, never bad, and anything but ugly.

Leading our own Magnificent Seven is the 2-bedroom Arlington on the 2nd floor, our Yul Brunner if you will. With original features and fireplace, high ceilings and treetop views, this apartment has striking looks, great presence and unquestioned star quality.

2-bedroom Arlington

Our second 2-bedroom apartment is the Crescent, on the 1st floor, which has sweeping views of The Barons. With granite surfaces, easy charm and dazzling good looks, this is the Steve McQueen of our merry band. 

2-bedroom Crescent

The first of our 1-bedroom apartments is the Brooke, a secret hideaway boasting old-fashioned dapper design worthy of Robert Vaughan, with clean and classic lines.

1-bedroom Brooke

Also on the lower ground floor is our 1-bedroom Garden Suite, which, with its French windows leading directly to the private garden, is the perfect place for any cowboy to walk on the wild side or kick back and watch the buffalo roam.

1-bedroom Garden Suite

And last but by no means least in the main 20 The Barons corral is Hill View Loft: the highest and smallest, a top floor studio that packs a lot of punch, with a roof terrace from where you can keep an eye out for bandits (or Twickenham rooftops and Richmond Park!). 

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studio Hill View Loft

Across the road is the stunning Number 9, a 1-bed, first-floor apartment that is very much part of the gang but a little more independent. Slick and stylish, we’ll call that our Charles Bronson.

1-bed Number 9

And across town is 18 Egerton Drive, a luxury 3-bed Richmond townhouse on a private estate. Modern and luxurious, with exceptional style and crisp, white linen, we’ll call that our James Coburn. 

3-bed 18 Egerton Drive

Our little village of St Margarets is quite safe from marauding bandits. In fact, it’s got a sense of community that we like to think is as homely as anywhere in the big city of London. And we provide every luxury and comfort to ensure that homely feel continues behind our doors. Our guests might be “like the wind, blowing over the land and passing on”, but for as long as they’re under our roof, we’ll do everything we can to make them feel they’re in their own home away from home.  

Why have we been here for seven years? Because we’re magnificent! To paraphrase the movie, before we ride off into the sunset: ‘We are seven, but we are worth seven hundred!’