Hampton Court Palace, England 🇬🇧 2022

Date: 27th May 2022

Travelled: 110 kms from Bosham to Sunbury-on-Thames, London. 

Visited: Hampton Court Palace  

Stayed: The Jubilee (Pub), £10, N51.41650, W0.40610

Budget: 2 days @ $0 per day.

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There’s little to be said about a 22 hour flight from Sydney to London via Singapore other than your glad when it‘s done. Pam has popped her pills and slept most of the way, I binged through the first series of Hacks and I thought it’s probably the best thing out of the US in several years. Even Pam cannot sleep for 13 hours, so she became a Hacks junkie on the second leg.

Heathrow was even worst than we remembered, taking more than an hour to walk endlessly up and down barricades till you finally reach a machine that takes your photo and gives you the nod. Of course the machine didn’t like Pam and she was sentenced to the naughty corner obviously for popping too many temazepam, so there’s another 15 minutes of our life we will not get back.

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Our driver is patiently waiting at arrivals and we are soon on the M25 in the morning traffic. The drive to Bosham passes quickly despite the traffic as Paul chats about his son living in Western Australia.

The Hymer is a little dusty but starts with the first touch of the ignition, the fridge and boiler lights as they should and Pam is busy unpacking and repacking. I start the scooter and give the Hymer a bath. Everything is going well until, suddenly the drain below the kitchen sink starts leaking. The fitting has given way but luckily the motorhome service place on site has the part and 30 minutes later the problem is solved.

We drive up to the Tesco for a quick supermarket shop and a new data sim before checking into the Caravan and Camping Club at Southbourne (just up the road), where the friendly staff direct us to our pitch and a copy of the “Rules”. I decide to give ready the rules a miss and we crack open a bottle of Spanish wine and a German beer that have been sitting in the Hymer since 2019.

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We wake to a beautiful sunny morning, enjoy a coffee and plan our day. Saying goodbye to the couple camping in a tent behind us we service the Hymer and make for the A27. There’s lot of traffic but once we turn onto the A3M North toward London it soon thins out as we are slower than most.

Once we cross the M25 the A3M become the A3 and we rejoin the traffic. We slowly follow the traffic into Hampton and make our way to the parking area for buses about 500 metres from Hampton Court Palace. We part with £4 for parking and set off for the Palace.

As you know we have visited Britain several times over the years but never Hampton Court mainly because it’s inside the M25 and is such a hassle to get here in the Hymer, but after seeing a couple of series on Henry VIII a visit hits our bucket list.

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So we arrive at the Hampton Court Palace gates, it looks fairly quiet but there are several bus loads of school children doing tours so it’s busy inside. We pay the £23 pp entry fee collect our audio tours and get started.

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Much of the audio guide focuses on Henry and the Tudors as they built most of this huge complex of buildings surrounding a series of large courtyards. The Palace was commenced by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1514 as a private home, but Henry took a dislike to the man, decided to call Hampton Court his own, before extended it extensively.

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Finally back outside we walk the rose garden and continue on to the maze. The rose garden and its willow sculptures are enjoying their spring bloom. No point taking any photos within the maze for obvious reasons…there were a lot of people wandering about lost in there.

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It’s been a long few hours of exploring this amazing piece of English heritage and history, so where done in. We return to the Hymer and drive a few miles up the Thames to The Jubilee, our guide tells us motorhomes can stay in the carpark for £10. Not as good as free but the cheapest we can find nearby.

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After a late afternoon nap we wander into the bar ordering a glass of wine and a pint, somewhat shocked at the £13 price for a round we sip slowly for an hour chatting with some local before heading back to the Hymer, our first day on the road done.

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Michael + Pam