A little adventure to Hampton Court Palace

Around this time of year I often find myself eagerly checking the weather in the knowledge that spring is round the corner. So when I saw that it was going to be glorious (albeit chilly) on Saturday, Frank and I decided it was high time we went on an adventure. We wrapped ourselves up in lots of layers, charged the camera and headed to Hampton Court Palace for the day.

Considering Hampton Court Palace is just a 17-minute train journey from Frank's house, I'm surprised we haven't been sooner. Tickets are pretty steep at £16.95 per person, but thanks to some crafty detective work (and Google), I managed to get us 2for1 tickets.









We decided to do an audio tour for part of our trip, and saw Henry VIII's formal dining areas. as well as the kitchens and the chapel. The audio tour was a bit painful at times (queue awkward and slightly long-winded re-enactments), but it taught us a lot about the palace's tudor heritage.









We stopped off in the Privy Cafe for a 'tudor-style sausage in a roll'. I'm not sure what was tudor about it (did they have tomato ketchup in the 1540s?) but it tasted pretty good and filled up the fuel tanks for the rest of the visit.



We then went for a walk around the beautiful grounds - a mixture of formal gardens and wilderness.











As you can see, my wellies were put into good use and I made sure to splash in a few puddles. You may also be able to see a sneak peak of my new dress from Joy, which I'll be popping up on the blog very soon.

A trip to Hampton Court Palace wouldn't be complete without getting lost in the oldest hedge maze in Britain. Despite it looking quite small from the outside, we soon became completely flumoxed, which prompted Frank to instigate this ravishing picture.



Once we'd successfully navigated our way out of the maze (about an hour later), I got very excited to see my first flowers of spring: crocuses and snowdrops.







We then headed back into the house to see William III's apartments. The painted ceilings were quite a sight to behold.







Feeling happy albeit a little chilly, we made our way back to the train station where Frank bought the biggest, sickliest hot chocolate I've ever seen. Luckily the barista gave me an extra spoon...



Don't forget that my blog giveaway ends tomorrow! Make sure to enter if you haven't done so already and you could win Leon's latest cook book!