To get to Hampton Court was, for me, a complete nightmare - but it was well worth the waiting.  2 hours to travel a 3 mile stretch of road - and I never was the patient type.  For anyone else travelling from the north down the M1 and around the M25 be prepared for a long wait after leaving the M25 - there is a new set of traffic lights designed to hold up traffic for miles (literally).  I would also recommend checking if there are races on at Kempston Racecourse.  This is on the road where the delays are.  Luckily there were none on the day I went or I fear I would never have made it.  Just a little tip from someone who speaks from experience.

Below is the Clock in the Clock Court where the six separate tours start.

Hampton Court Palace is most famously known as having been built by Cardinal Wolsey.  However there have been buildings on the site since the 13th century.

The first buildings were used by the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, a religious order founded in the early 12th century to protect the Holy Land from the Turks.

However it was not until Wolsey and his vision for Hampton Court Palace came to life that the buiding caught the attention of King Henry VIII who admired the Palace and eventually obtained it for himself.

Of Henry VIII's Hampton Court there is little for the modern visitor to see.  Much of this part of the building was demolished and replaced in the late 17th century, including the king's lodgings.

For the Stuart's Hampton Court was used by many of them, but in entirely different ways.  For James I it was a place to go hunting; for Charles I it became a prison; for Oliver Cromwell (the Protector of the Commonwealth between Charles I's reign and that of his son Charles II) it was his headquarters for a time during the war.

William III and Mary II did extensive work on the Palace and William himself died after a bad fall from his horse in  Hampton Court Park in 1702.  William III spent £131,000 on the palace - which would be about £9.5 million today).

Queen Anne, like those before her loved the hunting at the palace.

However when the Stuart line ended and the monarchy became the Hanovers the palace went into decline.  It was not until the reign of George II that the palace came to life again with the royal family's presence.  After the death of Queen Caroline however George II never visited the palace again with the full court.  The palace was last used by the Royal Family in 1737.

Since then it has remained in the possession of the royals but unlived in by them.  Restoration works have been carried out over the years and Queen Victoria opened it to the public in 1838.

However the restoration work was greatly interupted in 1986 when a fire broke out which destroyed a large part of the King's Apartments.  The repairs took six years and led to th largest series of restorations at the palace since the 1880's.  The repairs were largely completed in 1995.  At the palace today there is an exhibition on the fire and restoration efforts.

The palace is split into several different sections and the guide book and/or audio tour sets out the difference places easily.  There are also costumed tour guides if you would like a more personal tour of the palace.  The guidebook by the way is an excellent guide available in a variety of languages and one of the best I have seen.  The sections are:

-    Henry VIII's State Apartments - which includes the Haunted Gallery where the cries of Catherine Howard (wife number 5) are said to still ring out as she runs to the King to beg for her life.

-    The Tudor Kitchens.

-    The Wolsey Rooms & Renaissance Picture Gallery

-    The King's Apartments - including the fire exhibition.

-    The Queen's State Apartments

-    The Georgian Rooms

-    Courtyards & Cloisters

-    The Palace Gardens, which as you can see from the pictures throughout this page are splendid and extensive.  And also include the famous maze which was a lot smaller than I thought it would be - but still rather deceptively difficult.