Forget the city center – head to West London instead for a stay at this gem of a hotel just minutes from some of the world's best museums (and it can get you sold-out exhibitions)

The Kensington hotel is in a residential area of ​​London, but this four-star hotel with a white stucco facade and a vague Pride & Prejudice vibe deserves an outpouring of praise.

Not least because of the flow of water that flowed through our rain shower head.

I don't often tend to start a hotel review by waxing lyrical about a shower, but this was something special – so powerful that I wondered if the hotel had a tributary of the Thames through the pipes on the first floor to our bathroom had led.

At first I was almost too scared to stand under it, for fear that the few hair follicles left on my head would be shot off.

It turned out to be wonderfully refreshing, a welcome help in waking up for a day that would require top form – as we took advantage of the hotel's proximity to the V&A and took our young daughter into the museum galleries. 'Gabrielle Chanel – Fashion Manifesto' exhibition (which runs until March 10). And who knows what tantrums we'll face: French haute couture isn't necessarily a top priority for a six-year-old.

Ted writes: 'The Kensington hotel is in a residential area of ​​London – but this four-star hotel with a white stucco facade and a vague Pride & Prejudice vibe deserves an outpouring of praise.'

Fuel for the outing came in the form of a simply excellent breakfast in the hotel's elegant Town House restaurant.

For £40 we could choose a veritable pastry: croissants, eggs benedict, fruit, cheese and cold cuts.

The friendly waiter forgot our sourdough toast twice (the memory of him forgetting…was forgotten). But it turned out for the best: our menu eyes were too big for our stomachs and we practically rolled out the double frame doors of the hotel.

The V&A helps form a cluster of world-class museums – together with the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum – which is just a 10-minute walk from The Kensington.

Additionally, the hotel can provide guests with tickets to shows that are sold out to the general public.

Ted praises his room's bathroom, noting that the shower was particularly powerful

Ted enjoyed a Sunday roast at the hotel and a 'real banquet' of a breakfast

All tickets for the Chanel show had been sucked up months before we checked in, but the property was able to issue us three passes.

Not that my daughter appreciated this. She declared that she was bored for three minutes in the stunning display of Chanel garments and writhed around on the floor to drive home the point.

My French partner, however, was in heaven.

Ted describes The Kensington as 'a gem of a hotel in a gem of a location'

The hotel provided Ted and his family with tickets to the sold-out 'Gabrielle Chanel – Fashion Manifesto' exhibition at the V&A's

Rooms at The Kensington start from around £250 per night

Satisfaction was evenly distributed throughout the hotel, where we all enjoyed the ornate luxury of our room.

Our quarters housed not only an epic shower, but also a claw-foot bath, a four-poster bed, striking floral wallpaper and similarly patterned curtains. And the little one loved the tippe that served as her own mini 'bedroom'.

We didn't manage to have a drink in the hotel's decadently decorated bar, with its soft furnishings and polished wooden panels, but before we left for home we did sample an impressive Sunday roast, which was served to our parents as a inviting dish for two.

It was a bit on the lukewarm side, but the beef pieces were delicious, as the waiter promised.

Are you thinking of staying in London? Put The Kensington on your radar: it's a gem of a hotel in a gem of a location, and guaranteed to impress if power showers are the priority.

The Kensington has upcoming partnerships with the V&A on 'Fragile Beauty: Visions from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection' and 'NAOMI'. Guests can enjoy an overnight stay at the property, including a full English breakfast in the Town House restaurant, and receive two tickets to the exhibition.