Barnes is a small but perfectly formed Thames-side village in London. Barnes has its own cricket green and rugby club and is perhaps most well-known as the one of the best spots to watch the annual Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
Sitting on Barnes green, looking at the leaves from the weeping willows dip in and out of the pond, it's hard to believe that Central London is just on the doorstep.
Barnes village has a handful of small boutiques, as well as a local grocer's, delis, a bookshop and some very fine restaurants. It's also where you'll find some of London's most expensive streets, such as The Terrace where the famous British composer, Gustav Holst lived. Today Barnes is home to many high-profile broadcasters, politicians and actors.
Barnes is also the unlikely setting for one of London's most famous music studios: The Olympic Sound Studios. Artists who have recorded tracks at Olympic Sound Studios include The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, the Kaiser Chiefs and The Arctic Monkeys. Barnes is also where the T-Rex singer Marc Bolan died in a car crash – the exact spot of the accident, on Queen's Ride, is marked by Bolan's Rock Shrine, where fans young and old come to pay their respects.
© Collins Bartholomew 2010
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