Kensington Palace

Having thoroughly enjoyed Buckingham Palace tour/visit some months ago, and being a life-long Royalist, my family and I were pleased to 'take in' Kensington Palace on the 17th of November. What a huge disappointment this was! It was a real waste of money and could not be remotely compared to Buckingham Palace (or Sandringham. or any of the other many Royal venues we have visited). The trip was not helped by having to walk past a tramp in the gardens urinating against the wall, and this on the day of the Israeli demonstration where hundreds of Police were a matter of metres from the tramp's performance! Wills and Kate have chosen a bit of a dump of a 'pile' to make their home.

The "new" Kensington Palace is a chaos of kitschy, "hands-on" art installations that fail to enhance the experience. Only the Victoria tour offers any substance at all. Truly the most disappointing of all the grand house tours I have ever done. Who art directed this mess?

Enchanted Palace: absolutely avoid this complete money-grabbing tacky experience.

Made the big mistake of going to The Enchanted Palace experience this week. The rooms that are open are so atmospherically (ie: darkly) lit, that very little of the actual palace can be seen. Of zero educational value. If your idea of entertainment is audio tapes of unseen little girls crying, displays akin to Hallowe'en shop dressing, then this might appeal. It came across as a very trashy and unimaginative way or raking some money in.

Just added, please check out our special Christmas activities at http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/WhatsOn/VictorianChristmas.aspx