Frequently asked questions about the beautiful gardens at Hampton Court Palace.
Frequently asked questions about the beautiful gardens at Hampton Court Palace.
Updated 19 December: In line with the latest government guidance, Hampton Court Palace and gardens will be closed from 20 December until further notice. Please note this also includes the ice rink and Magic Garden.
The gardens are open at different times throughout the year and you require an admission ticket. Please check our opening times.
Please note the gardens are closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Home Park is open all year round.
On certain occasions the gardens and park may be closed for specific events and in the case of inclement weather they will be closed for safety reasons.
Some of the trees are around 300 years old. The others, which are between 75 and 100 years old, have been planted where the original late 17th century trees have been lost.
The best time to see the daffodils is during March. The display lasts about six weeks and the greatest number of flowers appear during the third and fourth week of the month.
The gardens cover an area of 26.7 hectares or 66 acres and the wider estate covers an area of 304 hectares or 750 acres.
Download a map of the gardens here.
In the Longwater and Rick Ponds which can be found in Home Park. You can also fish in the Heron and Leg of Mutton ponds in Bushy Park on the same fishing permits.
Home Park is not accessible from the palace gardens.
The park can be entered via the gates from either the Barge Walk or Hampton Court Palace Road, which are indicated on the map boards throughout the gardens.
No. The only exits are through the palace or through the Rose Garden.
There has been a history of growing plants on the current nursery site for over 300 years and the first glasshouses were erected towards the end of the 19th century.
Located off the Wilderness garden, the nursery is only open to visitors under special arrangements such as garden tours.
The layout of the Maze has survived from the late 17th century and is now listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest hedge maze. The maze itself was created as a humourous diversion for the court of William III and Mary II.
The Maze is currently closed to visitors.
More about the MazeThe Great Vine was planted in 1768 during the time when Lancelot 'Capability' Brown was in charge of the gardens at Hampton Court.
No. The Great Vine is a dessert type so the grapes are harvested; the fruit is available to buy through the palace shops from late August until mid-September.
More about The Great VineWe have restored the Kitchen Garden to an approximation of how it would have looked in the 18th century.
Few records survive of the original garden, but the layout of the beds can be discerned from contemporary paintings and engravings and as far as possible we have chosen historically accurate fruit and vegetable crops.
More about the Kitchen Garden