Hampton Court Palace Gardens

We were lucky with the weather for the visit to Hampton Court Palace recently and the glorious sunshine made the gardens look even more spectacular - I was thrilled to see these lovely gardens.

A beautiful golden pear tree adorned 

this entrance.

Close up detail of a pear (left) and blossom (right)

A beautiful Magnolia Soulangiana.

The whole Magnolia tree.

A lovely robin was singing away in the sunshine!

The Bishops Courtyard garden 
(as per previous post).

One of the formal laid gardens.

A lovely fountain.

A charming little statue of a child holding a bird.

The Palace is home to a very old grape vine

of the Black Hamburg variety.

The vine inside the vine house.....

...and part of the vine system outside 
the vine house.

The King's Orchard complete with daffodils.

On the garden tour we were shown the 

greenhouses where this years bedding 

plants are being cultivated.

In the tropical greenhouse.

Misseltoe was growing in the trees.

A coot nesting on the lake.

The long canal/lake with fountains at the end.

The Three Graces statue.

The main lawns to the rear of the Palace 
the yew trees are kept in this cone shape.

Some lovely Mute Swans graced the ponds - 
here we are having a major preening session!

The sun caught the water spray off this 
fountain making a lovely rainbow.

The formal gardens - these were returned to 
their original style only recently as they had 
become very overgrown.

A lovely long view of the Palace from the 
end of the gardens.

One of the fabulous ornate gates backing 
onto the River Thames - here you can 
make out the thistle of Scotland.  The 
gates were painted grey and gold but upon 
Prince Albert's death Queen Victoria had 
the gates painted black and gold.  
Most are grey these days now.

Another view of the Palace.

The lawns and topiary of the garden.

You can take a tour by horse drawn carriage 
around the gardens.

One of the many lovely statues in the gardens.

The lovely central fountain.  

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Palace gardens!  
My feet were killing by the end of the day at the 
Palace but it was worth it, as it was such a 
truly beautiful place to visit.  You can find out about
the Palace at www.hrp.org.uk