Hampton Court Palace Gardens - Family Day

Family Day at Hampton Court Palace Gardens

Pollinating London Together (PLT) invites you, with your family and friends, to a PLT Family Day at Historic Royal Palaces Hampton Court Palace and learn about 500 years of gardening on Monday 29^th July.

Join us for a blooming adventure as we explore the exquisite gardens and embark on a pollination journey like no other. Bring your family and friends for a day out with the chance to learn about the importance of pollinators in London’s ecosystem.

The Hampton Court Palace and gardens were once the exclusive playground of kings and queens. New ideas and designs arrived with each new era, from Tudors to Victorians. The Gardens and Estates team will guide us on their continued work caring for these royal gardens.

Monarchs and their gardeners have all influenced the gardens in different ways. In the early 1500s Cardinal Wosley laid out the first small knot gardens, before Henry VIII took over the palace, strutting through his heraldic Privy Garden and hunting deer in the deer park.

From Charles II’s elegant Long Water to William III and Mary’s fine baroque gardens, including the Maze, to the dazzling displays of Victorian mass bedding, Hampton Court Gardens have always been at the cutting edge of design.

PLT has organised, with our members, Historic Royal Palaces, two tours. These will take place during the morning and then again in the afternoon. One tour takes you around the Palace gardens and the other through the countryside surrounding the Palace – to see the Home Park to the east of the Palace, a SSI and deer park. The tickets for this event also include access to the Palace itself and the magic Garden so there is a lot to see and do!

Hampton Court Palace opens at 10:00, we will start our day at 10.30, meeting in the Garden Room of the Palace for coffee/tea or a soft drink before setting out at 11.30 on one of the two tours with the expert guidance of the Palace’s Gardening Team. We expect the tours to last about one hour. Then you are free to have lunch in one of the cafés in the grounds of the Palace or to bring your own picnic to have in one of the designated picnic areas around the Palace grounds. You can leave your belongings in the Garden Room during the tours.

Meeting again at 13.30 for the second tour which will commence at 13.45 – so you can choose which tour to attend in the morning and join the other tour in the afternoon. We will welcome you back at about 15.30 to enjoy a drink before you are then free to explore some more of the Palace grounds, the magic garden and or take a tour inside of the Palace itself, see Link to HCP website below;.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace

We will also have people on hand to show you how to carry out a 10 minute Citizen Science insect count; please download the app from the App store using the link;

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/fit-count/id1540771889

Cost: £25 per adult

£12.50 per child under the age of 15

Book your ticket now by following the link;

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/pollinatinglondontogether/1287057 .

We can’t wait to see you there!

Come and join us to celebrate the beauty of nature and discover how we can all play a part in Pollinating London Togethers future. Don’t miss out on an unforgettable day of learning and exploration.

John Burton, Chairman Pollinating London Together

June 2024