“Tumble out of bed and I stumble to the kitchen,” begins Dolly Parton’s immortal 9 to 5. “Pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life.”
Well, in a rental property currently on the market in Kilburn, she wouldn’t have far to go. The one-bedroom flat, which is listed on OpenRent for £1,800 a month, has an unusual floorplan, whereby the kitchen — a 45 square foot room equipped with a gas hob, oven, small fridge and washing machine — is only accessible via the bedroom. Better make that a strong cup of ambition.
The dining table, meanwhile, is in the living room, on the other side of the bedroom. Tenants cooking dinner will need to walk their steaming plates through their bedroom, past their bed, chest of drawers and wardrobe, in order to serve it.
The ground floor flat, which extends into an annexe in the garden of 51 Fordwych Road, is described as a “bright and beautifully presented one-bed flat with private garden and private entrance”.
The flat is accessed via a garden passage to the left of the main building, with the front door opening onto the living room. The living space, which contains the dining table, four chairs and a sofa, also has full-length glass doors which open out onto the garden.
The living space, in the annexe, is connected directly to the bedroom, via a sliding door. There is a small hallway and bathroom to the right-hand side, and, of course, the kitchen, which can be closed off from the bedroom with a wooden door.
The bedroom is a long, 206 square foot room with a grey carpet and white walls. It is furnished with a double bed, three wardrobes and a chest of drawers. There are no windows, but there are three entrances to bring in natural light and create the sense of a thoroughfare: one to the kitchen, one to the hallway, and one to the living room.
The garden, according to the advert, is 60-foot-long and private, with the landlord responsible for the cost of its upkeep.
“Having lived in this lovely garden flat I can highly recommend this property to any prospective tenants,” wrote a previous tenant in a review from 2021. “The flat is extremely private, warm, clean and bright. As single woman living on my own, safety and security was of paramount importance to me, and this flat more than met my requirements.
“I would have no hesitation in recommending this property to anyone and am very sad to have had to leave it prematurely.”
51 Fordwych Road is comprised of seven flats, according to the Land Registry, which appear to have been under the same ownership for more than 30 years.
The garden flat comes furnished and is currently being renovated. It is available from 6 September for long lets, and costs £1,800 pcm, plus a deposit of £2,076.
The flat is open to a maximum of two tenants — who will, presumably, need to be comfortable with the unusual arrangement of transporting their meals through their bedroom in order to eat them.
The landlord has been contacted for comment.
