Scrumpdillyicious: Hampton Court: Historic Palace of Henry VIII

Hampton Court Palaces has been home to some of the most famous figures in British History. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor, started Hampton Court Palace’s transformation from an ordinary country house to a magnificent palace. Wolsey wanted to create a grand building where he could host not only the King and the royal court but also monarchs from across Europe. Investing huge sums of money, he created a palace fit for the King, and was so successful in his work that Henry eventually took Hampton Court for himself and enlarged it as his favourite residence. The world-famous gardens include 60 acres of spectacular formal gardens and 750 acres of parkland, all set within a loop of the River Thames, and home to a huge variety of wildlife, including the descendants of Henry VIII's deer herd.

The famous Hampton Court Palace Maze is the UK's oldest surviving hedge maze. Commissioned around 1700 by William III, and planted by “Capability” Brown in 1768 or 1769, it covers a third of an acre and is known for confusing and intriguing visitors with its many twists, turns and dead ends. On average, it takes 20 minutes to reach the centre. As a child, this was my favourite memory of Hampton Court.

Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court were the largest of Tudor England and a central part of palace life. 200 cooks, sergeants, grooms and pages worked to produce over 800 meals a day for the hungry household. Feeding the court was a complex business as millions of logs burned in the hellish fires every year, from rom boiling cauldrons to roasting spits, Henry VIII’s kitchens continued to be used for a further two hundred years, feeding the tables of Tudor, Stuart and Georgian monarchs and their many courtiers. Joining a tour of the kitchens, we passed through the labyrinth of kitchen spaces, and finished our tour in the Kitchen Garden which produces different crops all year long.

The palace became known for the sumptuous pageants and banquets held there for Elizabeth I and subsequent rulers. George II who ruled 1727–60 was the last reigning monarch to occupy Hampton Court, and in 1851 Queen Victoria conferred the palace on the British government. These days, the state rooms, Palace and Bushy park are open to the public, and one of London’s major tourist attractions. Not having visited Hampton Court for many years, we spent a glorious day exploring the palace, gardens, kitchens, and maze finishing up with a light lunch at The Tiltyard Café.

The original Tudor Hampton Court Palace was begun by Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16th century,

but it soon attracted the attention of Henry VIII

Produce for all of the kitchens was brought into the palace through the Tradesman’s entrance

Barrels brought wheat and dried goods

The narrow Fish Court was a clever fridge system

as the space is open to the air and keeps the stone stores cool

Entry to Henry VIII's Kitchens, which were built in 1530, provide a fascinating insight into the logistics of having to feed the palace's 600 members of the court, who dined here twice daily

Row of large cauldrons over open flames would cook stews and soups for the royal Tudor household

Baskets of dry goods in one of the medieval kitchens

Crockery room where the bowls and cups were stored

Meats would been roasted on spits over the big fire in the Great Kitchen

Faux Roast Beef

Place settings as they might have been during set during Middle Ages

The vast Medieval Wine Cellar with barrels upon barrels of wine and mead

Gate through to Clock Court

Carved stone vaulted ceiling in the passage with the Tudor Rose,

which was the emblem of the Tudor Dynasty and instigated by Henry VII

Henry VIIIs Legendary Wine Fountain

Lion finial on the roof of the Clock Court

Entrance to Henry VIII's apartments

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540

Henry VIII's vast hammerbeam ceiling in The Great Hall was built

from 1532 onward using the skills of his shipbuilders

Woven in Brussels around 1540 and made of the finest threads including gold and silver,

the tapestries tell the story of The History of Abraham, and are one of the finest in the world

Candelabra illuminating portion of the tapestry

Next to Hampton Court, Bushy Park was one of Henry VIII's favourite hunting grounds,

where deer were introduced here for the King's entertainment

The Great Watching Chamber was the first of Henry VIII’s State Apartments beyond the Great Hall

and features the glorious gilded ceiling and tapestries from the collection of Thomas Wolsey

Queen Anne commissioned architect Sir Christopher Wren to remodel the Royal Chapel in 1710

When King William III and Queen Mary II took the throne,

they introduced new Baroque elements to the palace such as this impressive staircase

The stunning King’s Staircase by Italian artist Antonio Verrio, lead to William III’s apartments

The mural creates the illusion of a great Roman hall as the setting for the story of a competition between Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, who vied for a seat beneath the gods’ banquet

Looking through a pane window to an interior garden currently being updated

'Boy Looking Through a Casement Window' c. 1600

from King Charles III Royal Collection

Lovely wildflowers grow along the path leading to the Tennis Court

The Privy Garden

The Royal Kitchen Gardens

The famous maze at Hampton Court was built by "Capability" Brown

The Tennis Court was built for Cardinal Wolsey between 1526 and 1529,

and even Henry VIII played there

The court is still home to an active tennis club,

which we were witness to with a foursome playing doubles

Gardener tending the flowers at Hampton Court

Rose Garden on the path toward the Tiltyard

The Tiltyard Gardens

Gorgeous Hygdrangea along the Tiltyard brick wall

The Tiltyard was originally a tournament area laid out by Henry VIII with five towers to watch the jousting, with the remaining brick wall and one tower being part of a walled garden