Notting Hill: Racecourse to Carnival

Notting Hill: Racecourse to Carnival is a self-guided audio tour starting at Cosmic House, 19 Lansdowne Walk, London W11 3AH, on Thursday 15 October. It's a walk that traces the transformation of a hill that was once a racecourse into the home of London's largest street party, and it's designed for you to do at your own pace.

Over about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) and 13 stops, you'll pass the church that sits on the old grandstand site, the great private garden squares, and a postmodern house full of cosmic symbols. You'll walk down the market street named after a naval victory, past the Electric Cinema — one of Britain's oldest working cinemas — and through the streets where the Carnival was born. The 13 landmarks include Cosmic House, the Kensington Hippodrome, the Tabernacle, and Portobello Road.

It's an audio walk, so there's no in-person guide and no fixed start time; you just set off when you're ready. The narration runs up to 33 minutes across the 13 stops, and the whole thing takes around an hour and 20 minutes to complete. It's delivered via the AudaTours app and works entirely offline once you've downloaded it, so you don't have to worry about your signal dropping as you move through the neighbourhood.

The tour is £3.99, and since there's no fixed start time, you can fit it in whenever suits you on the day.