Kensington Palace

I expected a little more from Kensington Palace. The outside is rather drab. We took the tour, which I believe was 12 pounds (a little overpriced). The first couple of rooms you get to see on the tour are quite interesting. They're about the day-to-day lives of the people that lived there, including costumes, and fabrics and tools used by tailors. Shortly after the tour goes to the Debutante area, which is all about Princess Diana. It has a nice collection of her dresses, but is otherwise presented in the cheap manor that a local museum in a small town would use (posters and a few videos).

The last part of the tour is the state rooms, which are beautiful, and the only saving grace of Kensington. Tapestries, architecture, antiques, paintings, and a nice bit of history provided by the audio tour.

I can't really recommend it unless you have a lot of time, or won't be seeing the inside of one of the better places, like Windsor Castle, in which case the state rooms will dazzle you.

The gardens of Kensington Palace, on the outskirts of Hyde Park, simply cannot be beat anywhere in London in my opinion. And the good news is that they are free to visit. Should you want to venture inside, Kensington Palace is different enough from both Buckingham and Windsor to be interesting as you wander through the state rooms. You can see recreations of the rooms that Queen Victoria used as a child and young woman.

During my visit there were two temporary exhibits. One was a collection of Princess Diana's clothing, which was interesting although the collection was small. Probably less than twenty dresses. The other was an exhibit on debutantes of the 1950s. That one was quite cheezy in my opinion (there was a room to learn how to set a table and tie a bowtie) but perhaps if one had children this sort of interactive thing would be ideal.

I thought the entrance fee worth the price because the interior was so different from the other palaces and castles I visited, but a quick (free) trip to the garden alone would also be very worthwhile. And as an added bonus, this palace is open on Sundays while many attractions in London are not, so if you find yourself looking for something to fill time on Sunday it is a great way to spend the afternoon.

We visited KP last weekend and we have very mixed feelings about this place. The staff were very strange! The bag searching woman was very loud and although cheery a bit OTT! We started off with the audio guide but went back to the first room to take part in the Queen Victoria tour. I felt a bit sorry for the tour guide as he seemed to be at times drowned out as it was really busy and the tour consisted of walking through many rooms which was a bit of a chore! Unfortunately, the space as a whole is very badly thought out as it's hard to go back to the start for the tour! Still, I quite like the different elements of the palace and the audio guide was good. And there are some fabulous ceilings! I am not sure how I would have felt if we had had to pay full price as we are members!