Hampton Court Palace - Part 3 (Garden, Building... and Ice Rink!)

So, part three my dear Readers.  No time for sitting around, it's time to explore the building from outside and its magnificent gardens.

Those who have followed me for a while will know how I love old buildings and the plethora of different components that go into making a really interesting place to visit.  Well, Hampton Court Palace has chimneys... 

lots of chimneys!

241 to be exact!

Can you imagine how happy I was.  If I was given half the chance I would have just pointed the camera upwards the whole time.

This beautiful building just has so many amazing pieces of architecture.  The more you look, the more you see.  The imps are so intricately carved.

The funny looking statues with their individual expressions made me smile but demanded my attention.

The ancient brickwork as I looked up the walls.  So wonderful to touch.

The walls that surround the Base Court all individual in their own ways.  Sumptuous in their design.

It just takes your breath away. (There's that wine fountain again!).

The apartment doors look so inviting, I wonder what they look like inside?

Looking back at the entrance of Hampton Court from inside Base Court.  Can you imagine coming here to see the King?!

And there he is again...

Can you see the Tudor man against the wall just to the right of Henry in the picture?  This was another wooden figure depicting a man being rather the worse for wear after partaking of the wine fountain!

Now, here we have the most amazing clock you will ever see.  This is called the Astronomical Clock and has looked down at Clock Court for around 500 years.

The outer ring is stationery and depicts the hours of the day/night, yes a 24 hour clock.  The outer dial rotates annually and shows the position of the zodiac, the day of the year and the position of the sun.  The middle dial shows the solar dial and pointer which rotates daily telling the time.  The inner dial is the lunar dial giving the phase and visible portion of the moon.

The dials depict the sun orbiting the earth as this was the way of thinking in the medieval world.  Breathtaking!

We walked through to the Chapel Court which has a garden that would be similar to the one Henry VIII created in the 1500's.

Along the centre are some heraldic beasts which show badges of Henry VIII and his fated wives.

I wonder how many father's eyes looked down on this court hoping that their daughter was not going to represented!

A visit to Hampton Court must always include the Maze!

Miss Teen went in thinking, oh boring - where are the scary people jumping out?!  However, believe me, the longer you are in there, the higher the hedges seem to become!  We didn't manage to get to the middle as 'K' was getting a little anxious, and to be perfectly honest... so was I!!

Looking back at the beautiful Palace, William III's addition, the South facade, looks quite familiar.  This is because it was designed by a certain Sir Christopher Wren - he of St Paul's Cathedral fame.

How about the Fountain Gardens?  Time for a rainbow!

Then a beautiful view along the lakes.  They seemed to go on forever.

Now, it was the end of November when we visited, so the last thing we expected to experience was the rose garden.  However...

The fragrant smell was so welcome as the sun began to sink and the golden shadows started appearing.

The sculpture in the centre of William III's kitchen garden is called Abundance and shows a beautiful woman with her children.  Just perfection.

With the sun setting, our trip was nearly over.  But, Hampton Court had a final wonder for us as we made our way out.

A kaleidoscope of colour...

What a perfect setting to skate in front of...

So, this weekend I am back on a train back down to London to Camden Market for a little bit of 'different' Christmas shopping and then hopefully to see the Christmas tree at Trafalgar Square.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for your comments on my past two posts (I will eventually get round to you all - I mean, three posts in one week!  That's unheard of for me!!).

Take care.