As you all know, I have been not only drinking hot chocolates for many years now but also researching the history of hot chocolate. A part of that history took place at Hampton Court Palace and for years I have wanted to visit.
Hampton Court is a quick 30 minute train ride from London Waterloo Station and there are trains every 30 minutes. Today was a hot day, really hot given that it’s the middle of October. There is nothing scenic about leaving London by train, but after a few minutes, once you pass the rundown buildings and construction sites, you start to see rows of townhouses, old brick bridges covered in moss and swans drifting by in the rivers. Before you know it you have arrived and you, and many other tourists from London, are walking the short distance between the station, across a bridge, and straight into the Palace.
Buy your ticket and then pick up an audio guide. It is worth noting that it costs 16 pounds to visit so plan to spend some time here. It won’t be difficult though. I wouldn’t say that I saw myself as much of a palace person, at least not one that visits palaces generally (although perhaps if I was given one I’m sure I’d be ok with that) but after several hours here, several more than I planned, I wished that I had more time to linger. There is so much happening here and they have done an amazing job helping you to get into the Palace mood. There is a map with different tours you can take and the audio guide brings everything to life and is excellent. I lingered in Henry VIII’s Kitchens as well as his apartments and fell in love with the gardens, all of them. They have actors throughout recreating historic moments that happened here and involving the public as more than willing extras. It is really impressive what they have done.
But my purpose here was to visit the Chocolate Kitchens. For years this room was closed off to the public and used to store gardening materials. But one day they discovered that this wasn’t just another room in a very big house, this was the chocolate room, where Thomas Tosier, chocolate maker to George I and George II would make the King’s daily hot chocolate.
I practically ran past everyone else to visit the Chocolate Kitchens and started the audio tour just before arriving. The audio tour says pretty much nothing about the chocolate kitchens (especially given how much detail it provides on every other aspect of the Palace). The chocolate kitchen itself is a simple, empty room with very little information. So much happened here and I was disappointed that they weren’t sharing all of that with a visitors! But I stood there, alone, for ages just taking it in. I imagined how the chocolate was prepared here, I could almost smell it at one point.
This, understandably, got me in a hot chocolate kind of mood so I made my way to the closest café within the Palace to see if maybe they offered an interesting hot chocolate given that they have such a rich chocolate history. Well they don’t. They use Cadbury chocolate powder in lukewarm milk and it still had little clumps of powder floating around the top. Stay away.
But I loved my time here and highly recommend visiting the Palace if you are visiting London. You could spend a whole day here and still wish you had more time and, again, this is coming from a don’t ever plan to visit Palaces when I visit a new city. Well at least I used to be that kind of person until Hampton Court.
Verdict: Please Hampton Court Palace, offer a historic hot chocolate in your café. It would just be the cherry on the top of a really fantastic programme you have for visitors. I’ll be back Hampton Court Palace…I’ll be back with a thermos full of Port Hot Chocolate to enjoy in the gardens. Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey
