we decided to go the long route home from the christmas camp, via hampton court, staying at a premier inn. now, we don’t stay at premier inns, or any other kind, particularly often, perhaps 1ce a year! but BB asked if they were the moon ones, as they are her favourite. [yes!] we made good time, so spent the afternoon at hampton court, having been invited to the royal wedding. we had planned to attend the royal wedding in the summer, with more of the actors and spectacle, but the summer wasn’t as planned really! we still enjoyed it, and perhaps more as there were v few fellow guests, so got to feel important. SB wasn’t entirely sure that the actor wasn’t really HR, as he was big, slightly grumpy, and def had ‘a presence’. BB was persistantly reassured!! but we enoyed it a lot and also the bits on the side about dressing for court, who could wear what etc. both girls thought the bumroll and codpieces funny [haven't told them that bob has a codpiece too 
] and the detachable fancy skirts a good idea. when henry and kateryn went off to consummate, we went off for a hot choc and then back to hotel, as with migraine only just under control, felt better to not risk it! usually high standard of room, good night sleep and early start, though opted for big breakfasts, and SB ate as if she had been starved for a week!
so the next day we got there with a plan, the girls wanted to look at the garden and the maze, then the kitchens and sb wanted to do william III’s rooms. so that is mostly what we did, tough did stop at the info bit and pick up some ‘worksheets’ which are actually more fun booklets than dull write things here sheets! we went into the display on the changing face of hampton court, and did loads of talking around things. the statues in the garden are all wrapped up against the cold, which made us giggle a bit! nice lunch at the tiltyard cafe, and race around the maze and on to henry’s kitchens. thought these v nicely presented, and the booklet thingy worthwhile. SB got to turn the spit a bit, and BB pretended her hand was a rat for me to catch 
could have done with a couple of labels in places. really emphasised the warrenness of the palace, and the fact it mimicked an undercover town in places – v odd, and so unlike the various castles and french palaces. we spent ages there before going to William’s suites. we had seen the dolls house version, so could put that into ‘real life’ but bb started to flag and at 3.30, we thought we had prob seen enough, tho i missed out on the young henry exhibition! a quick shop stop = knights plastic armour for bb [ecstatic] and a horrible history sticker book for SB. noticed more puppetry, but i am going to buy mine from play merrily!
home far too late and realised we had missed judo party, so SB sad.
today was mostly come down after camp, had considered christmas at audley end, but felt a day in was required! we did some christmas crafting tho – candle dipping!!