Hampton Court Palace, originally uploaded by ECUK08.

Hampton Court Palace was on the agenda today. A beautiful place, and the first castle we've seen that is constructed of brick. It is a former royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, south west London, England. Parts of the palace date as far back as the 14th century, but most of the Palace we saw today was the result of Thomas Wolsey, then Archbishop of York and Chief Minister to the King.

Hampton Court Palace was not nearly as lavishly decorated as Windsor Castle, but there were some lovely paintings of King Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. We also saw a little into living in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was crude compared to today's terms, but all of us could see how well Thomas Wolsey was.

Hampton Court Palace had some beautiful gardens. They were the most beautiful we had seen thus far. The roses and yews and boxwoods were perfectly groomed to create some great scenes. We found ourselves spending more time out walking in the gardens than we did in the Palace.