Travelling Back to Tudor Times

Eltham Palace, Well Hall Pleasaunce and the Tudor Barn
(sections 6 and 7 of Green Chain Route Pack route pack-see details below)

Nearest Rail Stations: Start point: Mottingham Station End point: Eltham Station

These stations are approx. 25 minutes from central London (London Bridge Station) or 20 minutes from Kent (Dartford Station) on London and South Eastern Railways.

Alighting at Mottingham Station, have a wander around The Tarn a beautiful landscaped garden and lake opposite the station with a rather special refrigerator!

From here make your way via the Green Chain Walk (GCW) signs to Eltham Palace via Middle Park.

The house and gardens are now owned by English Heritage (there is a charge for entry, but the gardens are free to Greenwich Card holders). The Great Hall was built here in 1475 on the orders of Edward IV and the moat bridge dates from the same period.
The palace has featured in numerous films and TV programmes including
“Bright Young Things”
(set in the 1930’s and based on an Evelyn Waugh novel) and
“The Gathering Storm” staring Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave as Winston and Clemmie Churchill.

If you don’t have the time to do the full tour of the house, the magnificent gardens alone are well worth a visit and provide a perfect spot for a picnic lunch if you have come prepared!

To complete your experience of Tudor Times, make your way to the Tudor Barn at Well Hall Pleasaunce. Follow the Green Chain Walk “Link” signs from the front of the palace which will direct you through Eltham Village and it’s bustling high street towards Eltham Station.

The 16 th Century barn (now an attractive pub and restaurant) connects historically with the Tudor Monarchs’ residence at the Palace, and is surrounded by a moat and flowerbeds. Benefiting from a recent lottery cash injection of L2 million, the grounds are an unexpected delight and incorporate formal Italian gardens with streams and waterfalls. It has been awarded the prestigious Green Flag award for three years running, something for which the local council are justly proud!

Eltham Station is situated opposite Well Hall Pleasaunce for your train journey home (though you may feel that a horse and carriage ride would be more in keeping…….)

Further details on the Green Chain Walk are provided in the official Green Chain Route Guide, which contains detailed colour maps of the network of footpaths and places of interest along the walk.

(Click here for details on how to purchase the Green Chain Route Guide)