Cost of visit to Hampton Court gardens goes from free to as much as £29

theguardian.com:

For those living in south London, a stroll next to the colourful flowerbeds in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace was until recently a free weekend activity all could enjoy.

But 18 months ago, locals were horrified to find the gates shut, as they were told they would have to pay up to £29 to visit the gardens in future.

The local MP, the Liberal Democrat Munira Wilson, has written to the palace to ask it to reconsider the large fees.

It now costs £26.30 for an adult to visit during the week and £29 at the weekends. For children it costs £13.10.

The palace, owned by the royal family, has blamed financial difficulties after the Covid pandemic for its locking of the gates for the first time in 185 years.

Although the gardens are privately owned by the royals, they have been treated as a public park since Queen Victoria opened them for her subjects in 1838 – but now the gardens are shut to those who cannot afford the fee.

The local campaigner Robert Palmer, 79, said he was shocked when the gardens he had strolled through for years were shuttered for non-paying customers. He said he used to particularly enjoy going to see the daffodils in spring.

“We were horrified, really, to find out what had happened without any consultation or anything,” he said. “I used to go at least once a week, and a lot of people did, it spreads through all the generations, all those gates are now closed. A lot of older people, people with disabilities, they could go in there and it was a safe environment. It had tarmacked paths so it was safe for people in wheelchairs, you didn’t have anyone coming up to you or anything like that.”

Palmer wrote to the queen last year asking for her help. “We did get a reply from her office but they just forwarded us on to