Hampton Court Garden Festival July 2019
Tuesday, 9th July 2019
RHS Hampton
Court Palace
Garden Festival
July 2-7 2019
Advertised as:
A wonderful summer’s day out packed with gardening inspiration, stunning floral displays and workshops in a majestic setting.
And it was!
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- Valerie and I
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- beautiful flowers.
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, 12 miles south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Building of the palace began in 1515 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of King Henry
Fortunately I was gifted two tickets. I invited my school friend Valerie, to accompany me last Friday 5th July. She travelled from Waterloo and I from Farnborough Main via Surbiton. We emerged from crowded trains, crossed the Thames and followed expectant crowds through the gates into the gardens of such a huge, imposing, turreted palace.
Mingling through crowds on a very warm day the sight of the canal and a breeze from the Thames somewhat refreshed us.
The Long Water
This beautiful canal was commissioned by Charles II (1660-85) in preparation for the arrival of his bride, Catherine of Braganza. The couple honeymooned at the palace and boats in the shape of swans sailed up the canal in a romantic gesture.
Charles’s principal mistress, Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, and their illegitmate children were also installed at Hampton Court. The Countess made changes of her own to the grounds, transforming Henry VIII’s old orchard into a delightful ‘Wilderness’.
This was my first visit to a garden show and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Valerie is such good company . We both like walking so we were able to see all the gardens and visit the retailers too. Generous as usual she provided juicy oranges and ginger biscuits. We joined a Scottish family round a table under shady trees to enjoy our lunch,
After a very fulfilling and interesting day we sat by the river before eventually waving goodbye and boarding our trains home.