Hampton Court Palace

2 to 2 1/2 hours

Just outside of Southwest London, on the bank of the rivers Thames (it’s a very long river, over 220 miles long) you’ll find a vast 1,250+ room palace, two palaces in one in fact for Hampton Court Palace is part Tudor style, made up of a mish-mash of red brick buildings, topped with hundreds of impressive decorative red brick chimneys and the other half, a very ordered and elegant 17th century Baroque style palace designed by England’s most famous architect; Sir Christopher Wren.

This was once King Henry VIII’s pleasure palace, where we can see the restored Tudor kitchens, which would have helped feed King Henry’s 800 courtiers, twice a day!

King Henry and his court would have dined in the Great Hall, later used as a space by William Shakespeare’s ‘King’s Men’ to perform Hamlet and Macbeth during the early in 17th century.

The palace was nearly demolished by joint monarchs William III and Mary II during the late 17th century. The Tudor style wasn’t to their liking, and it was very costly to maintain. The original plan was to demolish everything but the Great Hall but in the end it became clear that budgets would not allow for an entirely new palace of such size to be built and instead half of the Tudor palace was retained and the demolished section rebuilt in a new style of the day; Baroque, a highly decorative and theatrical style, which originated in Italy during the early 17th century.

What makes Hampton Court Palace even more special are the vast world-renowned gardens that include 60 acres (24 hectares) of spectacular formal gardens. There’s even a modern-day Magic Garden playground, which is very popular with families. Small children especially love discovering the many mythical beasts sculptures hidden amongst the foliage, not to mention climbing on the back of a life-sized red dragon!

Hampton Court Palace can be visited in a half day but a full day would be recommended. Please note admission tickets are required in order to visit.