Cocks letter diary, 1916-1919 / Verner Cocks - Page 83
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[Page 83]
mudbanks wharves & factories. We had dinner on the steamer & got off at Kew & trammed to Hampton Court. Here is Hampton Court Palace the residence of many of the old Kings & Queens of England containing most of the original furniture & hundreds of magnificent pictures & gorgeous tapestries. We saw through all the bedrooms, reception rooms & private rooms of the old kings but the galleries would take easily a day to see properly. Surrounding the palace are very extensive grounds magnificently laid out in lawns, lanes, gardens ponds & fountains beautifully kept. It is situated on a most beautiful reach of the Thames where there are many beautiful house boats nestling along the banks gorgeously decorated with curtains & flowers & inhabited by gaily dressed ladies & men who "afternoon-tead" on the open air decks. In peace times the river is also swarmed with punts & sciffs poled about by men in tennis rigout & the ladies in white dresses as you may often have seen the pictures. There were still a few who indulged in the certainly pleasant attraction. Within the grounds also is a maze of hedges specially built for one of the old Kings & for which you pay 1d admittance. But for the guide we had I think we would have still been there. There is also an enormous grape vine 130 years old & said to be the largest in Europe. It was laden
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