Visit to Hampton Court (27 Apr)

Today I ventured back to a place I first visited 10 yrs ago, but didn't spend enough time there to see everything cos my friend Mel surprised me with a Tour of Wimbledon!! So whilst she stayed at Hampton Court, after 2hrs I high tailed it out of there to visit Wimbledon.

Our weather was very overcast and a bit chilly this morning so we rugged up and headed off a bit before 8.30am to catch our first of three trains. It sounds complicated, but it wasn't. All the trains were part of the same rail network so after less than an hour we'd disembarked and were walking the 5 mins to Hampton Court.

It doesn't look like a traditional Palace - it has a mismatch of bricks and styles due to different Monarchs wanting to stamp their ideas on it. We visited;

• the baroque place built for William III and Mary II;
• Henry VIII's Great Hall and Tudor Kitchens; and
• some of the 60 acres of gardens.

Here's the front of Hampton Court and part of a tulip display that runs for most of April:

The first place we visited was William III's baroque palace. This is the Kings staircase leading to a long corridor of rooms when you go through the doors seen in the 2nd photo:

This is a view of an internal garden for the Kings benefit only:

Next we visited the internal fountain courtyard which had been planted with 11,000 tulip bulbs. Looked pretty spectacular:

Given the 'average' weather, we decided to leave the warmth of the buildings and head out to the gardens before it rained. These have changed considerably as each reigning Monarch stamped their authority. For example, these trees were left to grow (as pruning them became too expensive and the 'look' they provided went out of fashion). The result is a large number of trees that kept growing unkept and now look like mushrooms:

During our wanderings, we came across these nestling birds, being intently watched atop by a heron (not sure of it's motives, but I'm thinking they are nefarious), along with a swan just gliding along:

The tulips were coming to an end - these are the ones I like best:

I quickly watched some guys playing 'real tennis' which just looked way to complicated and certainly doesn't lead itself to long rallies!! Next we ducked back inside to check out Henry VIII's quarters and refresh our memories of his 6 wives and their demises!! Here's the classic painting showing him as fit, strong and imposing:

This is the head banquet table:

This is a photo of what Hampton Court originally looked like before successive Monarchs made their changes:

These are my favourite internal courtyard photos:

Having grabbed a late lunch and visited the gift shop, we left Hampton Court after about 4hrs to catch our 3 trains home.

We've sussed out the train ticket we need to purchase tomorrow for our 75 min train trip to Oxford where we will be for the next four days.

Another fun day delving back into history.

I appear to have runny nose, but fingers crossed that's all it ends up being. Sue has turned the tide and is on the mend.

Til next time.........