Saturday 9 June 2012

Hampton Court Palace

Yes! We spent the day at Hampton Court Palace.  Built by Cardinal Wolsey in the early 1500’s and subsequently extended by Henry the VIII and many of his successors.  There are two distinct styles of building in the Palace; Tudor and Baroque.

I’ve been interested in the brick Tudor chimneys since I first saw them on a TV documentary.

The clock located in the Clock Courtyard (naturally) was also quite interesting.

It’s located above the Anne Bolyen Gate (off with her head).

I did wonder how they managed to get sufficient pressure to the fountain in The Fountain Court when there was no nearby higher ground to create a head, or electricity for a pump.

Henry’s Banquet Room ceiling was covered in his royal crests.  Good job the camera has a very good telephoto lens!

If you are going to visit a palace you might as well take the effort to view the royal throne.

Doesn’t matter where you go you’ll usually find the Australians got there ahead of you and are preparing a BBQ.

Just a small section of the vast series of palace kitchen rooms.  The only problem would have been they were so far from the formal dining rooms the food would have been cold by the time it got there!

Due to the inclement weather (rain) we decided to defer the viewing of the extensive gardens until the next visit. 

Actually all the visitors appeared to have decided against touring the gardens in the rain!

Back to working on Waiouru tomorrow!

2 comments :

Jenny and Robin said...

This is such a wonderful place to visit, we enjoyed coming here a couple of years ago on our UK trip. For a Tudorphile like me, I was in heaven! What about all those amazing tapestries hanging up?

King Henry decided he wanted Haptopn Court so poor old Cardinal had no option but to hand it over to his monarch graciously.

Tom and Jan said...

Yes, one can only imagine what the tapestries looked like before they faded with the sunlight, grease from the candles and more recent camera flashes!