Tudor Kitchen Weekends

Name: Tudor Kitchen Weekends
Start: 2025-05-03
End: 2026-11-01
Location: Hampton Court Palace

It's not just cookery!

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When

Weekends from 05 September until 18 October 2026

10:00 - 16:00

Ticketing information

Included in palace admission (Members go free)

Buy Hampton Court Palace tickets

Find out important information including our allergen notice. Also see access information.

When we think about kitchens, modern or historic, we focus on the food — but feeding 450 people required a whole host of preparation to ensure the court of Henry VIII was served twice a day.

On select weekends this autumn, step into Henry VIII's Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace and discover what was essential for the good ordering of the household: How were meals presented at the table, and what were the rules for eating them?

How were tablecloths and napkins laundered, and how were serving dishes polished to a shine to impress and show off each dish to its best advantage? Where did ingredients come from, in what way was it accounted for and how did the staff manage all the hot, heavy and sharp equipment in use?

Join our Experimental Historians in the kitchens at Hampton Court this autumn to discover how the royal household pulled off this mammoth operation.

Visitors explore Henry VIII's Kitchens after re-interpretation in 2018.

Important information

Our experimental historians follow original historic recipes, use original historic techniques and replicas of historic tools and equipment while attempting to show how people lived and worked in the past. The fire in the kitchen and the charcoal stoves in use are real and are hot.

As with modern tools, the equipment being used by our trained staff may cause injury if misused or mishandled. Please remember that surfaces may not appear hot, and tools may not appear sharp or heavy.

While we are keen for you to enjoy an authentic and hands on experience with our Experimental History Team, please ask before touching items that they are using and follow any safety instructions they, or our Palace Hosts may give.

Please do not cross any barriers put in place to keep you at safe distances and please ensure children are always supervised while visiting the kitchens.

Allergen notice

Many historic recipes contain ingredients now known to be allergens. While every attempt is made to reduce their use, and while none of the recipes being made or ingredients being used are intended for visitor consumption, please note that these demonstrations may include the use and processing of Nuts, Cereals Containing Gluten, Eggs, Mustard, Milk, Fish, Molluscs, and Sulphites/Sulphur Dioxide.

Food on display in the newly re-opened Henry VIII's Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace.

Access information

Henry VIII Kitchens include sound and light effects. Historic cookery will be presented by staff in historic costume or modern uniform. There are smaller areas within the Historic Kitchens that can become crowded during peak times.

The kitchens are part of a step-free route.