* Spacious Flat * Quiet&Clean * Everything Close *

🎩The "Top Hat" apartment. Very clean, large self-contained, by the green expanse of Southsea Common & the seafront. A breath of fresh air! Take a quiet early morning stroll without the tourists. Although shops, bars & restaurants are only a stone's throw away, the area feels peaceful and secluded. Very private. Smart TV's with Xbox. Come & enjoy fabulous Southsea. Your adventure is ready & waiting. All it needs now is you! Host on site if needed. 🚘12hr/24hr street parking permits £5/£10 each. The space Your own front door & whole floor within the house, with bedroom, kitchen, lounge diner, & bathroom all to yourself. The flat is what we call "split level" here in England. It occupies it's very own top floor of the house and has the interest of the rooms having slightly different levels with two or three steps leading up or down to the different rooms. The house itself is very old - it was built in the mid 1840's at the start of the Victorian era which is why it has such features. As a matter of interest it was built as a "Gentleman's Town House" and was lived in throughout the Victorian era by Commanders and Captains of the Her Majesty's Royal Navy, with the top floor being the servant's quarters. The floor joists are in fact old teak ship's timbers! The houses on Auckland Road West are some of the very earliest in the area - back when Southsea common was waterlogged by the sea and our famous architect Thomas Owen was active in the area! The ladies coming to visit the house would have worn wire-framed dresses and taken a stroll down the "Lady's Mile". Inevitably the master of the house would have received some socially important visitors, and I like to think that our local doctor and famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the creator of Sherlock Holmes) may have been among them! More recently our neighbours have even included Arnold Schwarzenegger who lived across the road for a while as a boy. Apart from a few modern comforts a lot of the originality of the house still remains and I look on myself as a custodian just passing through. It gives me great pleasure now to be able to share such a special house with my airbnb guests from the UK and all over the world, plus an occasional modern day member of Her Majesty's Royal Navy! In this very popular & spacious flat you will find everything you need from towels & snuggly dressing gowns to board games, books, CD's and DVD's. Smart TV's in both the lounge & bedroom with Netflix, Disney+, ad free itv'x, and Xbox ultimate, so the grown-ups can stay up and watch a bit of telly when the kids are in bed, or just have an early night together and snuggle up to binge watch dramas in bed! This is a lovely place to stay, and 100% green: all the electricity comes from 100% renewable sources like sun, wind and water :-) Outside - Relaxing south facing garden and choice of two tables with chairs, parasol and ashtrays. No pets or smoking inside please. I really have tried to make this a home from home so you really do enjoy your stay. You will find everything very clean. I am in the building, and my mum is just downstairs, so we are just a knock away if there is anything you need or want to know! Walking distances to major Portsmouth attractions... Osborne/ Palmerston Rd Restaurants & Bars (& Food Festival) 0.05 miles Southsea Common (Victorious & International Kite Festival) 0.1 miles Palmerston Rd Shopping Precinct (& Markets) 0.15 miles D-Day Museum & LCT7074 landing craft 0.3 miles Southsea Castle (& Brewery , Champagne Evenings) 0.4 miles Blue Reef Aquarium 0.4 miles Pyramids (Live Music venue & Gym) 0.46 miles Clarence Pier (& Funfair) 0.6 miles Hovercraft to Isle of Wight (IOW) 0.6 miles Kings Theatre (& Albert Road) 0.65 miles South Parade Pier (Funfair & Gaiety Bar) 0.73 miles The Wedgewood Rooms (Live Music venue) 0.86 miles Wightlink Car Ferry to Isle of Wight (IOW) 1.01 miles University of Portsmouth 1.04 miles Gunwharf Quays & Spinnaker Tower 1.26 miles Portsmouth Guildhall (Live Music & Theatre) 1.27 miles Portsmouth & Southsea mainline Train Station 1.35 miles Portsmouth Harbour mainline Train Station (& National Express) 1.44 miles Fratton mainline Train Station 1.48 miles Historic Dockyard (HMS Victory, Mary Rose, Warrior) 1.56 miles Continental Ferryport (to France & Spain) 2.4 miles Travelling with family or friends and need to book another? Check out my other listings by clicking on my profile - they're in the very same building. Guest access GARDEN: The South-facing garden is laid to a rope edged bordered lawn with olive tree on one side, and rose garden on the other. There are tables with parasol and chairs, plus recliners if you'd prefer to sit back on the lawn. There are ashtrays on the tables if required. Feel free to pop out with you breakfast, or an evening glass of wine - on a sunny day or warm evening it really is a delightful place to sit and relax. STAIR DETAILS FOR THOSE WITH SEVERE MOBILITY ISSUES: The apartment is at the very top of the house on the 2nd floor (just to be clear that that is to say the 3rd storey ie not the ground floor or the first floor but the second floor). On entering the front door of the house itself you go up a flight of 15 stairs to your very own front door which immediately has another flight of stairs (about the same number) that rises and turns to the main floor of the flat. The flat itself is split level so there are also 3 stairs within it up to the lounge and bathroom, 2 steps down to the bedroom, and 1 step up to the kitchen. it's all higgledy-piggledy because the house is very old (1846) and has much history. The shower is a full walk-in cubicle rather than the above bath type. It is raised (as is the bath too) so both of those have a step up to them as well. Other things to note SELF-CHECKIN: For checkin convenience I have a lockbox. Details will be automatically released prior to arrival on the airbnb app. WANT 1 HOUR EARLY/LATE CHECK IN/OUT?: £5 each to reschedule cleaner. Please request as soon as possible for us to try to accommodate you. Booking your stay starting a day before/after ensures that you would be able to check-in however early you arrive/leave. PARKING: I can provide visitor's scratchcard parking permits for guests who want them, at just £5 for a 12 hour or £10 for a 24hr permit (rather than the £16 pay and display). CHILDREN: We are very family-friendly. All children welcome, including babies. Parent caution requested for toddlers please, because the flat has lots of things in it (like floor based smart tv's, radiators etc) which, although super to have, do present some concerns when it comes to the unsupervised toddler. The electric remote controlled log effect fire in the lounge is cold when just used for effect, but does have a fireguard when used for heat. The flat does have 2 stairgates so the main stairwell can be blocked off, and the lounge/bathroom area can also be shut off from the kitchen. The fuse board is child safety locked. We do have books for tiny and young people, a super doll's house with furniture, a wooden pirate ship, a wooden car park, wooden "duplo" train track, young girl's push-along pram, play mat with overhead toys, baby bath and towels, toilet seat for little people, toilet step for the slightly older, small brightly coloured potty chair, and a good stable & clean high chair. We also have a travelcot. BEDS: There is one double bed in the bedroom (with a comfortable memory foam topped mattress), plus two folding guest beds. SMOKING: No pets or smoking inside please (there are ashtrays outside on the garden tables). LATE CANCELLATIONS: Full refunds will not given by airbnb, or date switches by host, within 5 days of stay. Residents of the UK and parts of Europe do have the option to buy "Travel insurance for Airbnb guests" policies on Airbnb before confirming and paying for a reservation, to cover for things like: train drivers strikes; cancelled ferries due bad weather; delayed flights; personal illness; etc.