Hampton Court Castle and Garden.

Today we visited a hidden gem in Herefordshire. Hampton Court Castle and Gardens can be found between Hereford and Leominster (close to the junction of the A49 and A417). Free Parking, it cost £13 for adults to go around the castle and gardens and £7.25 for children over 5 (under 5 free). You can pay to just go around the gardens and that would save you a few pounds off each entry.

Set in beautiful grounds you can easily spend a whole day here. We took a picnic but you can buy food and ice-creams from a restaurant. They have different events on most days so it is worth having a look on the website to see what is going on. They currently have a Beatrix Potter event and when we went today they had Trevor Hill with his owls and animals. Dylan really enjoyed hunting for the Beatrix Potter characters in the gardens and Matilda loved the display of the characters that had been set up. Trevor Hill was very patient with the 101 questions Dylan had about the animals and it was great you get the chance to handle them.

In the grounds you can find a maze, if you can find your way in and out of it you deserve an award! It was the most difficult maze I had ever been around and that surely is how a maze should be?! You do get a award at the end of finding a beautiful sunken garden with a fountain that you can walk behind and stones to step over through steams.

You do not really even need to do the house tour, the gardens make for a wonderful day without even going around the house but if you fancy it (maybe not suitable for little ones, Matilda was not keen) it is a beautiful house to walk around.

We all had a really good day. I thought it was great value for the entry price you pay, the maze alone was worth paying the entry fee. We will be visiting again very soon.