Day 25 - Hampton Court Palace

The sun was shining as we caught the underground from Kings Cross to Waterloo and then a train to Hampton Court. It was an enjoyable train journey passing through the suburbs of London. The scenery passed from built-up, dense housing to greener, more spacious houses with larger blocks of land. Hampton Court Palace is a 5 minute walk from the station crossing over the Thames river.
We arrived about 11 am and the queues were short. Bought our tickets, picked up our audio-guides and we were off. As we entered the Base Court we were met by an actress dressed in Tudor dress. She was Lady Exeter and told us about the scandal at the Court with Ann Boleyn demanding that the King make up his mind about marrying her. Throughout the day we met King Henry VIII, Ann Boleyn her brother George and Lady Exeter. The actors wandered around the Palace and at set times during the day there would be a scene. The kids loved the drama being acted out, including the arguments between Henry and Ann. It presented the history of the Palace in an interesting way and broke up the day.
We found the audio-guides informative but they sometimes gave you too much detail.
The Palace is presented as 7 self-guided tours, so we did the Henry VIII Apartments first then decided to go out into the gardens before it started to rain.
The Palace gardens were beautiful .... mass plantings of tulips everywhere. Passed the Royal Tennis court which looked like a cross between squash and tennis. People were playing on it but I was unsure if the ball ever went out because it bounced off the wall and they continued to play. We visited an area they call the Wilderness first where there were large areas of daffodils and the famous Maze is located. We did the Maze and did spend a bit of time finding dead-ends. Then wandered to an area called the Tiltyard where Henry VIII watched jousting and other sports from a tower. Had a delicious lunch at the restaurant there and then walked back around to the Great Fountain Garden. This is a beautiful part of the garden with the centre piece being the fountain. Continued walking around to the Knot Garden which is a 16th Century garden layout and then to the Pond Gardens which were our favorite. It has sunken garden beds planted with flowers and looked very pretty in the sunshine. Visited the famous Great Vine which was planted in 1768 and is still producing a crop which they sell to visitors on late August.
By this time the grey clouds had returned and rain looked imminent. We then completed the other guided tours but had to be in the Base Court for the finale of the scenes where Henry proposed to Ann. It was really well done as they made it highly interactive and we all were part of the scene. Henry sent Tom and James off to search some rooms to find Ann and all the men had to go to the Council Chambers to discuss his decision while the women were advised by Lady Exeter about how to not have an opinion.
Returned to London by train and then Richard and the kids returned to Ripleys Believe It Or Not exhibition at Piccadilly Circus and I did the laundry. I think I got the easier option but the kids loved the exhibition. More mirror mazes, a laser beam challenge and lots of gory details about weird and wonderful things in the world. This was our last day in London .... tomorrow we are off the Devon.