Sunday Walk 2 – Two Royal Parks

Extra Walk 240 – Hampton Court Figure-of-8
Length: 13 km (8.1 miles). Toughness: 1/10

10:27 Hampton Court train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:31, Clapham Jct 10:36, etc), arriving at 11:03. Hampton Court is in TfL Zone 6.

Trains back from Hampton Court are at 05 & 35 minutes past the hour.

If you missed last Sunday's encounter with Richmond Park's deer in the rutting season, here's another chance to see these magnificent animals in the parkland and gardens around a famous royal palace, with the added attraction of some early autumn colour on the trees. The pubs in Hampton Wick come a bit too soon for lunch so I suggest stopping at the Pheasantry café in Bushy Park's Woodland Gardens; you'll be going past it at around 12:30 and then again an hour or so later, allowing you to opt for an early or a late lunch stop. The suggested tea stop is the Tiltyard café in the palace grounds, but there are plenty of other refreshment places just across the main road from Hampton Court station.

Earlier this year Historic Royal Palaces controversially ended a longstanding tradition of free entry to the Formal Gardens outside the main summer season, but you can still wander freely around the Wilderness and other ‘informal gardens’.

You'll need to print the maps and directions from the Extra Walk 240 page. T=swc.240