Gnomes Unearthed at Hampton Court

We love a trail, especially one which involves finding a statue of some kind. Gnomes Unearthed is a new trail at Hampton Court which runs until 2nd October 2016.

Gnomes Unearthed at Hampton Court, finding Umbriel

Gnomes Unearthed is a new trail currently running at Hampton Court Palace. Umbriel is Hampton Court’s mysterious gnome who has appeared from underground by the Magic Garden’s spell. He appears in fifteen locations in the Hampton Court grounds.

Each Umbriel statue has a story to tell around the Hampton Court grounds by pressing a button on his arm. Stephen Mangan tells each story. The statues also include contributions from Michael Rosen and Francesca Simon. Lucy Worsley who writes for the Royal Historic Palaces also contributes a story.

Gnomes Unearthed at Hampton Court, finding Umbriel

The stories come from schools and companies local to Hampton Court. Artists and writers then brought them to life.

Gnomes Unearthed is also a great excuse to walk around Hampton Court’s gardens.

We followed a trail which includes the gnomes, and gave us several activities in the grounds. Oh, and a bit of acting too… as Shaun, H and I were the only members of the public on our trail we were several characters, which was fun! (I was Oliver Cromwell for a short while, H was Princess Mary and did a “very tragic death”!)

The good thing about Gnomes Unearthed is there’s a map to find them all. We had managed to find eleven of them (and we KNEW there would be one in the maze), so grabbed a map and got the lot.

Gnomes Unearthed at Hampton Court, finding Umbriel

The best thing? Once we had them all we were able to rejoin the trail we had started earlier. They were doing a performance to decide who should design Hampton Court’s gardens. After that we got an hour’s worth of playing in the Magic Garden too.

There’s so much to do at Hampton Court. Our Historic Royal Palaces Membership gave us free entry and it made for a fun afternoon.

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