Day 2 Hampton Court Palace
On a glorious day all we had to do was walk across the road into the palace grounds right up to the front gate before all the usual visitors got there.
It’s one of those great moments to go into the Great Hall when you are the only people on the space. For some reason there is a magic spell that makes you whisper so that you don’t disturb the ghosts of history. Just for a few minutes every sound seems magnified even the eavesdroppers seem that little bit closer looking down from the rafters, and then somebody else walks into the space and breaks the spell.
The palace has loads to see and the list seems endless, the Tudor kitchens, the Chapel Royal, A real tennis court, the rules of the game escape me, complicated for the outsider but easy once you get to know the game.
The Gardens are still spectacular to wander around, after taking a small diversion to walk around the famous maze we visited the oldest known grapevine in the world and still harvesting delicious grapes too.
Inside the palace there are still exhibitions to see like the secrets of the Royal Bedchamber. Huge State beds on display each with a tale to tell of conspiracies and intrigue.
The best part of the day was to follow the story of Henry VIII and his pursuit of Jane Seymour and the downfall of Anne Boleyn. Played out in episodes around the Palace and by the best costumed actors you’ll see playing Henry and His new love. We were fortunate enough to ask his majesty to tarry a while so we could take a quick image.
A perfect end to a perfect day was to have a jug of Pimms quintessentially English on the water deck of the Mitre hotel right on the river Thames and watch the swans go serenely by.
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