Day 9, 28th May 2019 Hampton Court Castle

We left the flat at 8:30am to get a bus to Vauxhall where we connected with a train to Kingston so we could have a look at the Kings Stone and then cruise to Hampton Court on the Thames. Well that was the plan, and as they are with well laid out plans, ours didn’t quite work out as we planned. Before we knew it we were pulling into Hampton Court Station, the end of the line!! No, we hadn’t missed our planned stop, this train just didn’t go the right way! Turns out, Kingston is on a spur line this train sped past!

We arrived in Hampton Court around 9:40am and the castle opened at 10am so we had a look around the village before heading over the river to Hampton Court Castle, the place Henry VIII called home.

To our surprise and joy, there weren’t many people here. Apart from one group of about 40 students, most areas we went to were free of crowds.

But I digress. We bought our tickets and strolled through to pick-up our audio guide units. Got them sorted and started our tour into the daily life of Henry VIII and all the people around him. Most public areas of the castle were bereft of furniture due to the crowds of people who would be present at all times. They simply had to make room and furniture just took up space. Curiosities we discovered ranged from the Royals having many bedrooms, most of which weren’t for sleeping in, but rather welcoming guests, they also had just as many Royal sitting rooms. The room I found most intriguing was the Kings eating room, complete with a barrier around the table. It goes that people of the day enjoyed watching the Monarch eat. Yes, people of stature would come and admire the King as he consumed all manner of delicacies. The barrier, come fence, around the Monarch was to keep the hoards away so they didn’t touch the King or touch/steal his food.

The audio tour is very good, we chose to do the more relaxed “a day in the life of” tour rather than hard historical.

The castle is very interesting as it not only was home to Henry VIII and his families, but also William III as well. It also shows the changing styles over the years.

The most ornate room in the castle is the Chapel Royal, an opulently decorated room to display Henry’s devotion to God. It is an operating church to this day.

After the audio tour we left the buildings and headed to the grounds. The gardens in all their forms are magnificent. From the very structured form of The Privy Garden on the south side of the castle, originally designed by Henry VIII and then later redesigned by William III, to the Knot Garden with many lavender bushes, to the Pond Gardens, the Orangery and The Great Vine. The Great Vine is said to be the world’s largest grape vine. This single vine is said to give a crop equivalent in weight to two men and their tools. (Close to 200kg).

On the east side of the castle are spreading lawns and tree lined avenues leading to The Great Fountain and onto a large long lake.

On the north side you can find The Wilderness (a forested and unkempt grassy area, the 400 year old maze, the Tiltyard) where Henry VIII and his courtiers watched jousting and other sporting contests), The Rose Garden, the extensive kitchen garden and the relatively new Magic Garden.

Thank you Lyn & Erin for suggesting we might like to go here, we had a great time.

Our journey home was expected to be uneventful, easy they said, just retrace your way here they said!

All went well. Being the end of the line it wasn’t too hard getting a train heading in the direction we wanted, Indeed the train leaving at 2:55pm was going back from whence we came. We got on the train and it surely delivered us to Vauxhall Station. We even had our “tickets” checked by an inspector.

We got off the train at Vauxhall as planned and made our way over to the buses, and hopped on our No.2 bus as planned. All was going well you would think, as did we. We both thought the trip was taking a bit longer than the ride in the morning and we seemed to be “exploring” areas uncharted by us. Eventually a voice came over the speakers on the bus. “End of the line, all passengers disembark!”. We were at Norwood West! The end of the line! We had made a rookie error. While we had got the right bus, it was heading in the wrong direction, we should have got the No.2 bus on the other side of the road when we got off the train! So we finished up having about 1.5hrs extra time riding the Metro double decker buses than we would have liked.

But at least we worked out where we went wrong!

These are the things you remember and laugh about in the future. ?

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