Ascent/Descent:
negligible
Net
Walking Time: ca. 1 ½ hours
Toughness:
1 out of 10
Take
the 18.12 Shepperton train from Waterloo (18.17 Vauxhall, 18.22 Clapham J, 18.25 Earlsfield,
18.29 Wimbledon, etc.), arriving Hampton
Wick at 18.43.
Return
trains:
xx.01, xx.14, xx.31, xx.44.
Two Deer Parks and Hampton Court Castle, a Royal Palace.
Tea: The
Foresters Arms on High
Street.
3 comments:
Wow, I think this must be the nearest walk to me in the whole database so I will try to join you, although I'll probably be on the train behind your one especially if the planet hasn't been saved by Thursday.
Re the "Alternative Route" and "Through the Palace Grounds" options mentioned in paras 2-5 of the Walk Directions, since 2016 it has no longer been possible to enter the Palace Grounds by the back gates on either side of the Long Water: Historic Royal Palaces now charge for entry to the formal gardens at all times of the year. If you approach the Palace on the left-hand side of the Long Water you'll be stuck unless you can find the park exit gate out to the Thames Path (a perfectly nice route if the Palace Grounds are still open to walk through, but some way off the published route). There's no problem if you stay on the right-hand side of the Long Water.
See also the Hampton Court Circular walk page, a longer version of this short walk.
n= 4 w=fine_but_cool
Missed the posted train due to a very packed Jubilee Line and arrived at Hampton Wick 15 minutes late. The walk poster and two new faces were waiting and off we set. Quite quickly got away from the busy road and into Home Park and splendid isolation. Save for some deer, a swan and a lone jogger, we were alone as we made our way through the park, past the pond and through the avenue towards Hampton Court Palace. Admired the Palace and the flowerbeds through the bars of the gate and then made our way . A short walk along the road and we entered the grounds via another gate and were able to wander around "The Wildeness", the rose gardens and the kitchen gardens. Again, in splendid isolation, we were able to admire the front facade of the Palace.
After this we made our way over to Bushey Park, eventually making our way through the Woodland Gardens. Really lovely with quite a lot of colour and once again, we were the only people in there. As we got to the gate where we hoped to exit the Woodland Gardens, we found it locked (maybe the reason we were the only ones there?) and had to make our way back to where we entered, hoping the gate was open. And, thankfully, it was.
It was growing dark, so we cut the route short and made our way out via the Lion Gates and caught a bus to Kingston to make our way home.
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