Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court Palace Review

The beloved seat of Henry VIII's court, sprawled elegantly beside the languid waters of the Thames, this beautiful palace really gives you two for the price of one: the magnificent Tudor red-brick mansion, begun in 1514 by Cardinal Wolsey to curry favor with the young Henry, and the larger 17th-century baroque building, which was partly designed by Christopher Wren (of St. Paul's fame). The earliest buildings on this site belonged to a religious order founded in the 11th century and were expanded over the years by its many subsequent residents, until George II moved the royal household closer to London in the early 18th century.

Highlights

Wander through the State Apartments, decorated in the Tudor style, complete with priceless paintings, and on to the wood-beamed magnificence of Henry's Great Hall, before taking in the strikingly azure ceiling of the Chapel Royal. Topping it all is the Great House of Easement, a lavatory that could sit 28 people at a time.

Feel a chill in the air? Watch out for the ghost of Henry VIII's doomed fifth wife, Catherine Howard, who literally lost her head yet is said to scream her way along the Haunted Gallery. Weirdly, the ambient temperature really is prone to drop noticeably and nobody knows why. Latter-day masters of the palace, the joint rulers William and Mary (reigned 1689-1702), were responsible for the beautiful King's and Queen's Apartments, Georgian Rooms, and a fine collection of porcelain.

Don't miss the world's most famous maze, its ½ mi of pathways among clipped hedgerows still fiendish to negotiate. There's a trick, but we won't give it away here: It's much more fun to go and lose yourself.

The Lower Orangery Exotic Garden shows off thousands of exotic species that William and Mary, avid plant collectors, gathered from around the globe.

In summer months, consider arriving in style by riverboat

Tips

Avoid the queue and save by buying your tickets online. Family tickets can mean big savings, with £43.50 covering two adults and up to six children.

Choose which parts of the palace to explore based on a number of self-guided audio walking tours. Come Christmas time, there's ice-skating on a rink before the West Front of the palace.

Special programs, such as cooking demonstrations in the cavernous Tudor kitchens, can really bring the past to life for young historians.