Length: up to 15½ km (9.6 miles). Toughness: 1/10
09:57 Hampton Court train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:01, Clapham Jct 10:06, etc), arriving at 10:34. Hampton Court is in TfL Zone 6.
Trains back from Hampton Court are half-hourly at xx:05 & xx:35.
A few years ago Historic Royal Palaces stopped all free entry into Hampton Court Gardens but they seem to have partially relented as there are now quite a few Open Days each year, including this weekend. Home Park and Bushy Park are pleasant enough but a stroll around these gardens makes an excellent end to the walk. The Wilderness and other parts of the informal gardens will be awash with spring flowers and blossom, and hopefully the formal gardens will be open too.
Somewhat against my nature I've started the walk earlier than usual to allow for more time in the gardens, which means that you'll reach the Pheasantry café in Bushy Park's Woodland Gardens at around noon. If that's too early for lunch you'll pass it again an hour or so later after the loop around the north-western part of the park, although it's likely to be much busier then. There are several places for tea at the end of the walk, including the Tiltyard café in the palace grounds.
Please bring the directions from the L=swc.240 page (which now include a suggested tour of the palace gardens).
6 comments:
Thanks for posting Sean, and flagging up the chance to visit HC Palace gardens free of charge. I did the walk today, as not available tomorrow. Bushy Park rich in bird life - nearly deafened by skylarks above their protected zone. Lion Gate to HCP not open, so access only via main gate. Gardens very fragrant, well worth a visit; NB whole site starts to close at 4pm.
I am planning on starting the walk 30 mins later if anyone wants a later start.
I am.approaching by bus .Hope to see you Jane
This bus is caught up in traffic so don't wait Will do the Gardens and then see if I can find route through Bushy to Pheasantry cafe Have a lovely time Jane
Literally hundreds got off at H C station. So many it took 10 minutes to get through the barrier. “Can’t all be going on the walk’ thought Mr Tiger, and he was right.
n=8 congregated outside, then made their way across the bridge with crowds cheering them on - or so they thought.
Turns out there was a half marathon going on - which explains all those annoying people running past us. And why they had numbers on. Mr Tiger was most disappointed to find that the “Come on Sweetie, you can do it” sign wasn’t for his benefit.
Eventually we shook them off, having to dart across their route at one point, and made our way though the two parks, with fish in the water and ducks on top. Not forgetting coots swans and herons. We had to stare down a couple of red deer but they were no match for us. There was a lunch stop at the Pheasantry, where the cherry trees were in flower. Then back to the Palace gardens for a protracted look round.
It was a w=dry-cloudy day. Although rain had been forecast for later, it never quite happened.
We met another n=4 walkers around the garden which brought the number up to n=12
We done the whole works - anything we could get in for free, we done it. Real tennis court, Great Vine, formal gardens, we even done the maze. This, of course, was no match for SWC’s finest. The Wilderness was a highlight, with masses of daffodils in flower. Or, as Mr Tiger said “OK if you like daffs”. A few rounded off the day in the Tiltyard cafe where some had cream teas. Mr Tiger had a posh looking cake with flowers on it.
Sorry to miss the cream tea. Still stuck in the maze after 2 days 😅
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