Andrew and Debbie: Kensington Palace

Today we went to Kensington Palace

We were given an audio guide and listened to some historical narration as we walked into each room. We absolutely loved the Palace. The high ceilings were beautifully painted. There were very large tapestries on the walls and we even got to walk on the original black marble staircase!

Here's a little bit of trivia for you about Kensington Palace. In 1689, Nottingham House was purchased by William III and his wife Mary II after being invited to leave Holland to rule Britain. Renaming it to Kensington Palace, it was an ideal home, situated west of Hyde Park. The Palace was enlarged and the Orangery was added in 1704 during the reign of Queen Anne. Kensington still continues to be a residence for members of the royal family. As we know, Princess Diana and Princess Margaret have resided there.

Unfortunately we didn't see any of the royal family, but we did have a wonderful afternoon tea of a very yummy lentil soup, Victorian Sponge Cake and Belgium Chocolate Cake. Yes, you are probably thinking "Why did they order Lentil soup?". Well, we hadn't eaten lunch and they were only serving afternoon tea. We didn't feel like cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwiches as we had waited for about 10mins in the freezing cold to get into the Orangery, so the soup was a very attractive alternative.

Those scones were the size of your palm.....enormous!

At the gift shop, we bought a book called 'Royal Palaces', a Kensington Palace postcard, an envelope sealer 'H' stamp with wax and Andrew Christmas present which is a King Richard the Lion heart Chess Set!!!! but don't worry, he won't get it until Christmas.

We didn't walk around the gardens as much as we would have liked too because time got away and it turned dark at 16:30 and it was freezing cold!!!