While I was on leave celebrating my birthday, Ma and I took a day to visit Eltham Palace.

Eltham Palace is a really strange mix of historical periods. It was given to Edward II in 1305 and the Great Hall was built in the 1470’s, it was a favourite royal palace for a while and was where Henry VIII lived as a child.

By the 1930’s, it had fallen into disrepair and was ‘bought’ by Stephen Courtauld and his wife, Virginia. They restored the great hall and built a house attached to it. The new part of the house was very modern for the time and it’s used a lot in films set in the 30’s and for fashion shoots. English Heritage took over the site sometime in the 1990’s and it’s worth a visit, if you like history or gardens (which obviously, I do!)

I found the house interesting but I feel as I often do when I tour these places that I probably would have been driven bananas by the Courtaulds and their pet lemur!