Hampton Court Palace and Gardens (14 Apr 25)

I have been a member of Historic Royal Palaces for a few years mostly because Hampton Court is close by (half an hour by bus, under an hour to walk) and also because my two sons live close to Tower of London. As with Kew Gardens, I use my membership to make multiple short visits often as part of a longer walk.

The excuse this time was the annual tulip festival.

Arriving just on 11am meant it was coffee and cake time which gave a good structure to the visit with the cafe at the north end of the extensive gardens and the formal beds at the south end, A pleasant stroll through the busy side garden, the one that leads on to Home Park, led to the magnificent view of the frontage facing the river and the largest of the formal gardens.

Next to the large formal garden is another glorious garden kept delightfully pristine and peaceful by not allowing visitors inside.

 

Throughout the gardens there were stunning borders to savour. This one is also on the south side, towards the end of my short tour, and there were similar displays in several other places.

I was at Hampton Court for a couple of hours, all of which was spent in the gardens or the cafe. It was a couple of hours very well spent and I will be going back for more soon.