Festive Departures – Tour of London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court
28th November 2024
Here at Best Value Tours, we are delighted to recommend great new Best Value Tours with festive departure’s and today we feature; Tour of London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court | Best Value Tours
Full details below, but first some brief history of Amazing Hampton Court Palace, acquired in 1514 by Archbishop of York Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s top minister and favourite. Wolsey paid 200,000 crowns to build Hampton Court, England’s finest palace, over seven years. Most of Wolsey’s building work has changed.
Wolsey wanted to build a Renaissance cardinal’s palace with rectilinear symmetry, large apartments on an elevated piano nobile, and classical details. According to historian Jonathan Foyle, Paolo Cortese’s 1510 cardinal handbook De Cardinalatu, which included palatial design recommendations, may have inspired Wolsey. Sir John Summerson says the palace shows “the essence of Wolsey – the plain English churchman who nevertheless made his sovereign the arbiter of Europe and who built and furnished Hampton Court to show foreign embassies that Henry VIII’s chief minister knew how to live as graciously as any cardinal in Rome.
” Whatever the ideas, the architecture is a rare example of a thirty-year period when English architecture smoothly transitioned from domestic Tudor, largely influenced by perpendicular Gothic, to Italian Renaissance classical. Perpendicular Gothic was unrelated to Renaissance but blended well.[16] A few Italian craftsmen at the English court in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century blended styles. Renaissance ornamentation was their speciality in Tudor architecture. Giovanni da Maiano created the Tudor brickwork’s eight Roman emperor relief busts. Anne Boleyn’s Gate. Tudor gatehouse with astronomical clock for Henry VIII, 1540 (C on plan above). Two Renaissance bas reliefs by Giovanni da Maiano are inserted into brickwork. Only a few years did Wolsey enjoy his mansion. Knowing his adversaries and the King were trying to bring him down, he gave the palace to the King in 1529. In 1530, Wolsey died.
After taking ownership, the King rebuilt and expanded within six months. Henry VIII owned over sixty homes and palaces and had over 1,000 courtiers. Few of these could hold the assembled court, so the King built the massive kitchens first to turn Hampton Court into a primary residence. In 1529, they quadrupled, allowing the King to feed and drink his whole court. King Henry’s new palace followed Wolsey’s perpendicular Gothic-inspired Tudor with restrained Renaissance adornment architectural style. Before Inigo Jones brought Italian classical elements to the first Stuart rulers’ London residences, this hybrid architecture remained untouched for nearly a century.
Henry added the Royal Tennis Court and Great Hall (the last mediaeval English royal great hall) between 1532 and 1535. The Great Hall has carved hammerbeam roof. This was the most significant chamber of the palace during Tudor times, where the King dined in state at a table on a dais. The King was impatient and made the masons work by candlelight all night to finish the hall, which took five years.
Stunning Hampton Court Palace in England, UK
Prices/Book Tour – Tour of London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court | Best Value
Description
The guided trip begins with a drive to London’s most famous sights. Visit Parliament Square and the 12 statues of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Winston Churchill. Next, we’ll pass Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. This statue commemorates Admiral Nelson’s 1805 Trafalgar victory. Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner, Kensington, Hampton Court Palace, and Windsor Castle follow. The Hampton Court Palace One of the skilled Palace Hosts will welcome you to this spectacular royal palace in Richmond upon Thames, London.
They will show you this luxurious riverside home and the State Apartments, Tudor Kitchens, and more. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII’s favoured advisor, built Hampton Court Palace in 1515. Cardinal Wolsey, second only to the King in power at the English court, fell out of favour with Henry after he failed to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he might marry Anne Boleyn, his latest love.
Prices/Book Tour – Tour of London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court | Best Value
After Wolsey’s death in 1530, Henry VIII turned Hampton Court into a hotel, theatre, and private playground to show off his wealth. After taking the throne in 1689, William III and Mary II commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to build a grand Baroque Palace. The palace has been one of England’s most popular historic sites since Queen Victoria unveiled it in 1838. Explore the massive kitchens where cooks laboured day and night to serve Henry his poached dolphin and roasted swan. Visit the magnificent gardens and try to escape the world’s oldest maze.
Expert Tip: The Hampton Court Palace host and tour guide will give you tonnes of information, but pick up a free audio guide on the way in for extras. Remember to see the lovely gardens. Windsor Castle Windsor Castle, King Charles III’s weekend home, is the world’s oldest and largest habitable castle. Explore the beautiful State Apartments and look for rare Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo masterpieces on the walls. Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House features hot and cold water, electricity, and 1,500 of the 20th century’s best craftspeople’s little handiwork. Discover St George’s Chapel, where Harry and Meghan married and where Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth II, and others are buried.
Prices/Book Tour – Tour of London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court | Best Value
Christmas Day Windsor, Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and Bath with 3 Course Christmas Lunch.
Christmas Day Oxford, Cotswolds and Stratford-upon-Avon with Traditional Christmas Lunch
Christmas Day Lunch Cruise with Panoramic Bus Tour of London | Best Value Tours
New Year’s Eve Thames Cruise on board the Sarpedon with fireworks | Best Value Tours
Guided Tour of Paris with Louvre and Lunch on the Eiffel Tower | Best Value Tours
Christmas Eve Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath | Best Value Tours
Boxing Day Oxford, Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick Castle with Lunch | Best Value Tours
Christmas Day Sights and Sounds of London Morning or Afternoon Tour | Best Value Tours
Boxing Day Windsor, Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath | Best Value Tours
New Years Eve Fireworks from the IFS Cloud Cable Car with Dinner and DJ | Best Value Tours
Lunch in Bilbury Cotswolds, Burford and Stow-on-the-Wold | Best Value Tours
8 Day – Britain and Ireland Tour | Best Value Tours
Making of Harry Potter Day Tour | Best Value Tours
5 Day – Edinburgh for New Year Hogmanay | Best Value Tours
8 Day Christmas Markets of Germany with 8 Cities, Frankfurt to Berlin | Best Value Tours
6 Day Iceland Blue Lagoon from Reykjavik | Best Value Tours
Christmas Day Christmas Lights Open Top Bus Tour | Best Value Tours
Christmas Eve Morning Experience of London Tour | Best Value Tours
Christmas Eve Morning Experience of London Tour | Best Value Tours
Christmas Eve Tour of Warwick Castle, Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford
New Year’s Day Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Dover and Greenwich | Best Value Tours
New Year’s Day Leeds Castle, Canterbury, Dover and Greenwich | Best Value Tours
New Year’s Eve Thames Cruise on board the Silver Sockeye with fireworks
2 Day – From London to Edinburgh Train Tour | Best Value Tours
New Year’s Eve Thames Cruise on board the Mercury Clipper with fireworks | Best Value Tours
New Year’s Day Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge | Best Value
From London Historic Salisbury and Winchester Christmas Markets | Best Value Tours
Windsor, Stonehenge, Lacock and Bath with Lunch in Historic Pub | Best Value Tours
From London Charming Bruges in Belgium Christmas Market
9 Day Spain and Portugal Ancient Sites Tour | Best Value Tours
Out of London Tours | Best Value Tours
Tour of London, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court | Best Value Tours
Featuring New Tour – 8 Day Best of Greece Tour | Best Value Tours
2 Day Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath, Oxford and the Cotswolds | Best Value Tours
6 Day – Outer Hebrides and Skye Adventure
17 Day – Scotland Island Hopping Spectacular | Best Value Tours
3 Day From Inverness North Coast 500 | Best Value Tours
5 Day Iona, Mull and the Isle of Skye | Best Value Tours