Hampton Court Palace

A family day-trip to Hastings ended up becoming a day at Hampton Court Palace instead, due to the rather bad GPS signal on our sat nav.  Although I was very keen on seeing the history of the location of The Battle of Hastings 1066, I must admit that I am quite glad that we went to Hampton Court instead.  Apart from the extremely long queue in the traffic which we later realised was the result of the last day of a Flower Show event at Hampton Court Palace, the day went by really well.

We were lucky enough to visit the palace on the day that the auspicious wedding of Henry VIII and Catherine Parr took place.  The actors at the palace re-enacted the event of the wedding day as if it was July 12, 1543.  It was a rather funny and interesting activity, especially for the children.  As Lady Catherine Parr (pre-wedding title), her sister, her true love, Thomas Seymour and Henry VIII himself talked us through their stories and what had happened, I felt like I was in year three in junior school all over again.  The historic facts that I hadn't thought or talked about for so many years, were now coming back to me.  

I couldn't help but think about all of the amazing events that must have taken place in the beautiful palace.  The gigantic tapestries were totally admirable.  Knowing that each tapestry was individually and hand-made was just extraordinary.  The details in the artwork of the paintings and tapestries is definitely something that would be unattainable today even if one attempted to create such perfection.

Each room had its very own individual smell, a smell that I've never smelt before.  I felt like I was in a different land, a different time completely and If I'm completely honest, I actually wished I was in the 1540s.  There was a lack of many things that we have today in those times, and you were either rich or poor but one thing that there was in those days was simplicity, an essence and way of being, or living that we no longer have.

We had a really funny and exciting experience in the famous maze in the gorgeous gardens of the palace.  Myself and the kids all tried to lose one another thinking that it was impossible and that the maze was nothing like the one that Cederick Diggory was killed in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  How wrong we were.  It was quite easy in fact to get lost (duh) and just as difficult to find each other (duh again), all the same, it was really funny while we all ran past the same people again and again but in different directions, confusing them as well as ourselves.  We did eventually find our way out.

While we sat in the beautiful sunshine on the lawn and had our picnic I looked around imagining the gardens completely empty.  I could picture a moment from Pride and Prejudice where Miss Elizabeth and Mr Darcy would 'take a turn' about the garden.  I believe if it wasn't for all of the other visitors at the palace I would have felt as if I was in a period drama, especially considering the fact that a lot of the palace workers were dressed up in royal attire from the 16th century.

What an amazing day it was.  A day packed with history, nature, pure skill and architecture.  It was definitely one to remember.  I must say one of the highlights of the day was when I had the opportunity to wear a red gown and be part of the court.  We were told that it was the correct manner to dress in court.  

Anyway, to conclude we all enjoyed ourselves and are now looking to plan our next trip.  I would still love to visit Hastings but I guess the two and a half hour drive is really off-putting.  Research into a train ride would definitely be necessary.