Wandering down Court Yard letting the magic wash over you

When I was growing up the area around the Palace was a pretty magical place.*

Of course the old hall was only open at certain times but that just meant you were forced back to wander down Court Yard and King John’s Walk which let your imagination soar in all sorts of directions.

Back then the history of the half timbered buildings were unknown to me but you could tell that they belonged to a time when the Palace was an important part of any Kings travels around London and beyond.

So with just a bit of historical license it was easy to people them with the great and the good along with the not so good and a whole raft of servants who worked long hours for little reward and have passed out of history.

Now they and the gates into the Palace along with Court Yard and St John’s Walk are regularly photographed and Chrissy and Jean have taken some fine ones over the years which they have been kind enough to allow me to use.

But working on the basis that you can never have enough pictures of Eltham here are two taken by our Elizabeth and Colin one Sunday at the end of October.

And what I like about them is that each offers just a glimpse of this old part of where we live allowing my imagination full reign to conjure up stories of who lived and worked there and just what they said to each other as they watched the sunlight play on the water.

Pictures; around Eltham Palace, October 2015, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick

*Eltham Palace, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Eltham%20Palace