Hampton Court and the Thames

Trade the bustle of Windsor and Eton for open river light: 7 miles downstream, Hampton Court reveals its hammer‑beam Great Hall, Tudor kitchens built to feed 600 courtiers, and a hedge maze set out around 1690. Henry VIII’s real tennis courts still stand. Baroque parterres edge the Thames with clipped yews and an orangery, while training sculls cut past the palace wall. Here, river traffic shaped the quays as much as court life set the calendar.

Your driver collects you at your Windsor hotel in a Mercedes and tracks the Thames via the B3021 and A308. At Hampton Court, you explore while they handle parking and wait on standby; in wet weather, drop‑off is right by Base Court. Later, we continue to Runnymede, 6 miles upstream, meadow of the 1215 Magna Carta, then an unhurried run back to Windsor. Across Windsor and Surrey, our private chauffeur times entries to miss crowds and can weave in a tea stop at The Mute Swan or by the river.