The weather was glorious so we visited Hampton Court in Hope Under Dinmore, Herefordshire. We had lunch in the orangery where I chose a Coronation Chicken sandwich before taking a guided tour of the castle. After the castle tour we enjoyed a walk around the gardens which are currently between seasons.  The maze and its hidden surprise were as enjoyable as ever and we were surprised to learn of a hidden feature next to the waterfall in the sunken garden. We enjoyed watching young children find their way behind the waterfall, get as near to the (low) edge as they dared so that they could get a soaking from the waterfall. We were sure that one of them was going to step backwards over the edge, but thankfully he didn’t.

We had hoped to walk along the river which would have enabled me to complete one of my Coronation related walking challenges but unfortunately, we realised that we had forgotten to get an all-important ingredient for our evening meal. This meant that we didn’t have enough time to complete the walk before the shops closed.

This means we will have to go back soon to walk along the river which we have not quite managed on any of our visits. By then the gardens should be starting to bloom again.

We were a little bit late setting off and picking mum up for her holiday adventure. This led us to have lunch at Stokesay Castle tearoom before continuing our journey to Hampton Court Castle. We enjoyed lunch sitting outside with views over the fields and the occasional train passing by.

In addition to the gardens, the Hampton Court castle is now open on a self guided tour basis. To our delight the maze was also open. It had been closed on our between lockdowns visit last year. Mum was a little bit nonplussed by the maze and especially the delightful surprise exit into the sunken garden.

After our garden visit, we continued on our journey to the Cotford Hotel, booked in and chilled out in the room until it was time for a pre-dinner drink in the residents lounge. We enjoyed our evening meal, in my case Brie and Walnut Tart and then retired to the residents lounge for a nightcap.

Now things are beginning to reopen we took the opportunity to visit Hampton Court Castle Gardens in Hope Under Dinmore.  On arrival our first port of call was the Orangery Cafe where we sat outside in the sunshine enjoying a sandwich whilst taking in the view.

After lunch we enjoyed a walk around the gardens which were as lovely as I remembered them on a previous visit. It was nice to visit somewhere that did not require tickets to be pre booked.