11 of us arrived at Maze Hill station, right next to the entrance to Greenwich Park hoping to visit the Queen’s Orchard but, unfortunately, it was shut. Then, passing the herbaceous border, we went to the Queen’s House. The architect Inigo Jones was commissioned to design a new palace for Queen Anne in 1616.  Supposedly, the manor of Greenwich had been a gift from King James I as an apology for losing his temper after Anne had accidentally shot one of his favourite dogs while hunting.

The building was completed around 1635 and was considered the first fully classical building in the country. From 1690, it became the official residence for the Ranger of Greenwich Park and, in 1807, the property was adapted into the Royal Naval Asylum, to house and educate the orphaned children of Royal Navy seamen killed in service.

We admired the Great Hall with its black and white geometric pattern, wooden balustrade and the new ceiling by Turner Prize winning artist Richard Wright. We saw paintings of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I and Turner’s ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’. We zoomed past many portraits and pictures of boats before descending by the Tulip Stairs, the first geometric self-supporting helical staircase in Britain.

Next was the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, built between 1696 and 1712 as part of Sir Christopher Wren’s original design for the Royal Hospital for Seamen. We admired the ceiling, the Samuel Green Organ and the altarpiece and pulpit. It was time for lunch, and we adjourned to the Undercroft Cafe which is situated under the Painted Hall. We saw a room unearthed from Henry VIII’s Greenwich Palace and the skittle alley.

In the afternoon, we walked through Greenwich Park gardens. We had to walk uphill but avoided the very steep hill. The herb garden was disappointing as there were hardly any herbs, but we all loved the beautiful rose garden which was restored in 2023-25. We saw Queen Caroline’s Bath – the only thing left from Montague House – which was rediscovered in 2001. We walked through the flower garden, saw deer in their enclosure and a fox by the café waiting for some scraps. We stopped briefly to read about the Roman Temple and then made our way down to Maze Hill station after a full day out.