Visiting Hampton Court Palace was a thoroughly enjoyable day for both the palace itself and the gardens around it. Again, I got lucky with the weather as it was a sunny, hot day for London. After having a good look around the palace, I went into the gardens.

On walking into the gardens from the palace on of the first things I saw was these yew trees. While not generally a fan of any sort of topiary, I quit like them because they are all different in shape.

Below is the Privy Garden, which was built when Henry VIII took over the palace in 1529. Over time, and many different kings and queens, the garden fell into an untidy shadow of its former self. In the mid-eighties, it was decided to restore the garden, which was re-opened to visitors in 1995.

This is the knot garden. While it is only small, it is one of my favourites because I like the colours of the flowers and the fact that the garden bed is jam-packed with plants-something I always enjoy seeing.

I then came across the lower orangery and terrace, which is quite a simple space, but looks good next to the buildings.

The ‘Great Vine’ is a grape vine planted in 1768 by ‘Capability’ Brown who brought the cutting from a Black Hamburg grape from a park in Essex. In 1800, over 2000 bunches of grapes were harvested-it still produces grapes today. What amazes me is the size of the vine and that it is so old. It gets its own dedicated vine keeper whose job it is to care for this old vine.

The pond gardens, below, were ponds in the time of Henry VIII. They were built to house the fish that fed the court on religious days that prevented meat being eaten. By the time Queen Mary II was around (1689-94), this area became ideal for the exotics that she brought with her from the Netherlands. I think I missed the peak of these gardens, but it was a nice quiet spot to sit and enjoy the green space.

I also visited the kitchen garden, which is where one of William

III’s kitchen gardens were originally located-it was restored and reopened in 2014. No exact records of what was grown then exist today, but a handy list is in the garden and includes turnips, asparagus, cabbage, beets, lettuce and various herbs.

I also saw plenty of colourful flowers when I was walking around, here are some of my favourites.

I didn’t make it all the way through the whole gardens-the day was hot, as well as sunny and quite tiring too, as well as being totally enjoyable. What I liked about the whole palace and its gardens was that it felt like there was a connection to the characters who made the palace what it is, which doesn’t always happen. While it is a rather large place to explore (if I could I would have had several visits), it still feels weirdly small too. Yet again, another thoroughly enjoyable day was had looking at history and gardens!