Visit Hampton Court Palace ( videos )

After visiting Hever Castle, we decided to visit Surrey, one of the wealthiest regions in the UK. Hampton Court Palace is located within M25 in Surrey next to the River Thames to the south west of London.

I googled and found out that Hampton Court Palace is a good place to visit; The English King Henry VIII (1491- 1547)was crowned there and it was his residential Palace where his six wives lived 500 years ago. So why not continue our journey to find out a little bit more about the history of this controversial king...

The Palace architecture looks magnificent and impressive from the outside with classic design and you can see that even the chimneys were uniquely carved. The Palace is surrounded by several very well maintained gardens, both large and small and each with its own characteristics and purposes. There are fountains, ponds, flowers, trees, lawns and even the river Thames flows around the Palace. There is also a maze that claims to be the most famous in Europe, children and adults were really enjoying it.

Inside, it's not the most glorious and best maintained Apartments, however you will be very impressed with the classic wall and ceiling paintings, pictures and antiques. It seems Henry's Women's Apartments were most popular, because there were such a long queue waiting to get in we decided to give up on that part. Maybe they were trying to find out Henry 8th secrets to attract women?...

Obviously the English King Hentry 8th love stories and his marriages with six wives have been huge interests to the public and getting lots of attention from the tourists. Henry 8th was a very controversial King due to his marriages, he had struggles with the Catholic churches and the Pope from Vatican in Rome.

There was also some activities where people dressed in Royal clothes to entertain the audience. If you want to see the whole Hampton Court Palace and gardens you'd be advised to start your day early. We were not impressed by the audio guides as it confused us and the signs telling you where each section started are not very well posted. However we loved different styles of gardens as these are uniquely designed and tells its own stories.

As with Hever castle there was some falconry. They would line a load of kids up in two long lines and then get the falcon to fly low from one end to the other between the two lines. There was also a famous astronomical clock in the main courtyard but we did not know which part of the audio had its history.

It was another historic place to visit and we enjoyed the gardens as well as the Palace, we brought our own picnic and had a good lie down to enjoy the fabulous sunshine and beautiful gardens. This was another memorable day and money well spent.

Shannon Pentony

Website: http://shannonpentonyblog.com

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