Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
River transport
From April to October, Westminster Passenger Services ( 020 7930 2062,
www.wpsa.co.uk ) runs a scheduled service from Westminster Pier to Kew, Richmond
and Hampton Court. The full trip takes three hours one-way, and costs £15 single,
£22.50 return. In addition, Turks ( 020 8546 2434, www.turks.co.uk ) runs a regular
service from Richmond to Hampton Court (April to mid-Sept Tues-Sun), which costs £8
single or £9.50 return. For the latest on boat services on the Thames, see
www.tfl.gov.uk .
HAM HOUSE
Ham St. Bus #371 or #65 from Richmond & Richmond train station 020 8940 1950,
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hamhouse . March-Oct daily except Fri noon-4pm; June-Sept until 5pm.£10. MAP
Expensively furnished in the seventeenth century but little altered since then, Ham House
boasts one of the finest Stuart interiors in the country, from the stupendously ornate Great
Staircase to the Long Gallery, featuring six “Court Beauties” by Peter Lely. Elsewhere, there
are several fine Verrio ceiling paintings, some exquisite parquet flooring, lavish plasterwork
and silverwork, and paintings by van Dyck and Reynolds. A bonus is the formal gardens
(daily: March-Oct 10am-5pm; Nov-Feb 10am-4pm; £4), especially the Cherry Garden,
with a lavender parterre surrounded by yew hedges and pleached hornbeam arbours. The
Orangery, overlooking the original kitchen garden, serves as a tearoom.
MARBLE HILL HOUSE
Marble Hill Park, Richmond Rd. St Margarets train station from Waterloo 020 8892 5115, www.english-
heritage.org.uk .April-Oct Sat & Sun 10am-5pm.£5.90. MAP
This stuccoed Palladian villa, set in rolling green parkland, was built in 1729 for the Count-
ess of Suffolk , mistress of George II for some twenty years and, conveniently, also a lady-
in-waiting to his wife, Queen Caroline. She was renowned for her wit and intelligence and
she entertained the Twickenham Club of Pope, Gay and Horace Walpole. The few original
furnishings are enhanced with reproductions, giving the place something of the feel of an
eighteenth-century villa. The Great Room , on the piano nobile, is a perfect cube whose
coved ceiling carries on up into the top-floor apartments. Copies of van Dycks decorate the
walls as they did in Lady Suffolk's day, but the highlight is Lady Suffolk's Bedchamber ,
with its Ionic columned recess - a classic Palladian device - where she died in 1767 at the
age of 79. In the grounds, there are occasional open-air concerts on summer evenings.
RICHMOND PARK
Bus #371 from Richmond 0300 061 2200, www.royalparks.gov.uk .Daily: March-Sept 7.30am-dusk;
Oct-Feb 7.30am-dusk.Free. MAP
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