This weekend is one of only five or six during the year when Hampton Court Palace opens the gates to its gardens for free. The forecast was good and so I had planned we would walk through Bushy park to visit.
It’s been a while since we have walked through Bushy Park and the horse chestnut trees were looking stunning which makes it even more of a shame that the Park no longer holds the traditional Chestnut Sunday on the second Sunday in May as it has done in the many years prior to Covid.
The Lion gates were not open so we had to walk to the front of the Palace to enter the gardens. It was lovely to finally be in there and we noticed that previously well tended grassy areas were now allowed to re-wild with long grass and flowers. There were a lot of fellow visitors and it was the perfect day to visit with warm sunshine and the trees all coming out.
After wandering around we walked over Hampton Court bridge and managed to get a table in our usual cafe to enjoy an iced coffee and a pork and apple baguette - delicious.
We could have wimped out and taken the R68 bus home but as the day was so nice and we had rested our feet, we walked back home through the park and achieved well over 14,000 footsteps by the time we got home.
The final thing about today is that after some research I have read up about hamsters as we only very occasionally get to see Mr Huffkins and when we do so it is always around midnight whether the light is on or not! I am pretty sure he is what is termed a ‘ghost hamster’ - a hamster that does not require or want much human interaction and doesn’t like being handled very much. I will continue to try and tame him but this is really sad following Pingado’s friendliness.
