Location : 3 Station Rd, Bishop’s Waltham, Southampton SO32 1DH
So our first small journey takes us just up the road from our hometown of Portsmouth, to Bishops Waltham, a quiet, quaint medieval village town in the middle of Winchester and Southampton.
The village has everything you need but nothing to exceed those expectations, village bakeries and local convenience stores, and a handful of local pubs for good measure. Our main visit to Bishops Waltham was to visit the palace ruins, an English heritage site and a grade 2 listed building.
Finding the palace is easy, it is well sign posted en route to Bishops Waltham and very easy to reach via sat nav or even the local bus services (the 69, X10 and X9 all stop near). When you wander through the gates you see the palace in all its glory and with information however small it still gives you a great insight to how this palace would have looked back in the day.
What is particularly striking about the ruins, is the vast amount of area that the palace would have taken up, nowadays people use this site for picnics with the family, photography enthusiasts, dog walkers and tourists looking to explore and appreciate something so well maintained.
The palace is free and open to the public at different times of the year. To find out all the relevant information check out the https://www.english-heritage.org.uk website. This site is useful to have a look what else is around you to go and explore.
Pictures from ‘The Great Hall’ – Pictures are provided to show you an example of how the building would have looked and a general idea of some of the goings on that would happen, the building itself is impressive and grand and even though it is clearly now a ruin, the structure of these buildings are extremely sturdy and well made.
The ruins were destroyed after the English civil war and the remains include a three story tower, the great hall and a converted lodging area that is now a small palace museum where you can purchase pictures, trinkets and local items.
Overall, the palace is beautiful, it has a lot of history attached to it, it’s great for an afternoon out, to just sit and appreciate the craftsmanship that has gone into the structures and also admire how the buildings have been preserved.
Follow our journey and what we are getting up to on our Instagram below.
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