Day 19 - Walton on Thames to Hampton Court Palace

 Friday 29 September

A great and sunny start to our walk today, starting back at the riverside cafe "Wilde Brunch Cafe" by the bridge at 10:30am.

Realised very early on, it was very hard to drink and carry hot chocolate whilst wanting to take photographs every few seconds!  It was such a lovely morning on the river with boats, ducks, canoes and geese.

This bridge is the 6th on the site, it carries the A244 road between Shepperton and Walton on Thames.

This section passes by Wheatley's Ait, this used to be the exclusive preserve of a commune of Victorian bachelors who would come for weekends and holidays, until they got bored and allowed women to join them - on the provision they went home before midnight!

It's a 20 acre island with homes on now, where you have to park your car on the mainland and walk over a bridge to get to your house.

Also along this stretch is The Swan where in 1920 Jerome Kern (1885-1945) the up and coming American songwriter who wrote Old Man River, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and the Broadway hit Showboat, met his wife Eva, who was the landlord's daughter.

We arrived at Sunbury Lock, a little bit beforehand was the handsome Lock House, which was built on the old lock site in 1812, the lock was built by the Corporation of London.  Every July this is where the 'Royal Swans Upping' starts.

We then arrived at Hurst Park, this spot has some sporting history to it, but now is a large housing estate and some green grass alongside the river.

The first game of cricket took place here in 1731, the first game of golf in England in 1758, one of the earliest balloon ascents in 1758 and the first horse race in 1790.

It started as Hurst Park Race Course,  first laid out in 1890, which then closed in 1960.

The racecourse was the scene of an arson attack by Clara Elizabeth Giveen and Kitty Marion, the two suffragettes created a revenge attack following the death of Emily Davison at the Derby in 1913.

During the 2018 summer heatwave, the ground was so dry you could just make out the course's pre parade ring.

On the opposite side of the river is a beautiful boat called Astoria.  

It was built in 1911 and in the 1980s became a recording studio by it's new owner Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.

He bought it after seeing it advertised in Country Life whilst waiting for his dentist's appointment!

I found this short video on youtube which is worth a watch.

Along from here is Garricks Temple, an 18th century Folly dedicated to Shakespeare, built in 1755 for actor David Garrick, who lived in the house behind, to celebrate the successes of Shakespeare.  It's a white octagonal temple, with Ionic portico.  It has been restored and is now open to the public between 2pm and 5pm on Sundays between April to September.

We passed some lovely looking boathouses moored on Ash Island and Tagg's Island, before arriving at Molseley Lock, there is a lovely 4 minute video of Tagg's Island on youtube here and another with Ben Fogle exploring the glamour of the island in pre-war days.

Just a little further and we were approaching Hampton Court Bridge, which we walked over and into The Mitre Hotel for some well earned lunch.  We were keen to try here as it's the sister hotel to The Retreat Elcot Park just 10 minute from us at home.

We sat outside under the big marquee ceiling, it had been a much shorter walk today, as our next plan was to spend the afternoon at Hampton Court Palace.

We had walked about 5 miles and 12k steps on this walk.

Susan had gnocchi for lunch

And I had aubergine

Just before we left we noticed that the hotel's launch was called Em!

From here we headed over to Hampton Court Palace to spend the rest of the day exploring the palace and gardens.

Hampton Court Palace was the home and court of Henry VIII and his many wives and children, it's set amongst 60 acres alongside the River Thames. 

After Henry seized all the wealth of the English Catholic church, he became the richest monarch in English history, and spent a fortune on palaces and other lavish treasures.  Hampton Court was 'devoted to pleasure, celebration and ostentatious display'.

Once the Palace was finished in 1540 it was the most modern, sophisticated and magnificent palace in England.

There are some beautiful Tudor rooms to see, the huge kitchens, incredible ceilings and amazing tapestries, King Henry owned about 2000 of them, many with silver and gold thread that glittered in the candle light.

This was our last walk of 2023 as Susan travelled to USA and then Winter came followed by never ending rain!  I'm glad we've got the soggier areas of the Thames Walk done and dusted.