Having visited London before, I somehow never got to Hampton Court Palace, so that is my goal. We hope to fly in from Germany to Heathrow. I see a reasonable accommodation in West Molesey. Should we stay there or are we better off just staying in London and taking the train from Waterloo. Or 111 bus from Heathrow? Is Molesey area worth it just for proximity to the main attraction? Thinking of spending 2 nights in London & then 3 in Molesey. I like the idea of being closer to the Palace, but there might not be as much to do in the area to warrant it. Thanks for any info or I’d love to hear others experiences.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1199 posts
I have a friend who visits London often - he's a Brit - he likes to stay in Richmond, which he says is quite civilized and has easy transportation into the city. I've never seen Ted Lasso, but supposedly it is filmed there. It's also the location of Kew Gardens. Hampton Court can be reached via bus or boat from Richmond.
Posted by
977 posts
We stayed in Richmond about nine years ago. What a wonderful town; we loved visiting Richmond Great Park and fun, friendly neighborhood pubs, Kew Gardens, nearby Hampton Court Palace. Easy train access to central London and also other places outside of London. Heard the Ted Lasso show has popularized it, which may or may not be a good thing, but we found it to be charming years ago.
Posted by
northern CA
2812 posts
I will third the recommendation for Richmond, and I've been doing so since before Ted Lasso.
Read up on the area's history and every intersection in town will become a treasure.
Do the long version of Hampton Court -- the palace can take most of a day, and the gardens can also take most of the day, if the weather is nice.
Here's an example: https://academic.oup.com/book/6164/chapter-abstract/149742315?redirectedFrom=fulltext
I think I have posted my royals sighting story about Hampton Court here on the Forum before -- I wandered into the indoor tennis court once (must have missed the signage saying private / stay out ) and happened upon Queen Elizabeth's husband and grandson playing in very white whites. This was when he wasn't yet dead and the boy was still a boy, mind you.
Posted by
Lake District, England
8128 posts
West Molesey is on the 411 London bus route- a 10 minute ride every 21 minutes to Hampton Court (for trains into London) or a 20 minute ride to Kingston-on-Thames for far more frequent trains into London. It too is quite an interesting town with quite a bit of history.