English Heritage - Eltham Palace and Gardens - Free entry

Please note that the gardens at Eltham Palace on will be closed on Thursday 12 March due to dangerously high winds. We always do everything we can to avoid unexpected closures like this, and we’re really sorry to disappoint you. We hope you’ll be able to visit us on another day soon.

Part medieval masterpiece, part lavish Art Deco home, Eltham Palace is an intriguing mix set in 19 acres of beautiful historic gardens.

Recorded in the Domesday book, Eltham was often visited by medieval kings, and Henry VIII spent much of his childhood there. You can still visit the Great Hall, with its 500 year-old roof, and imagine life when Henry IV entertained the Byzantine emperor there at Christmas 1400, or when Edward IV held a feast there for 2,000 revellers in 1482.

In the 1930s the wealthy Courtaulds leased Eltham and had a grand Art Deco house built, incorporating the medieval hall and saving it from ruin. Today, many of their original features and decoration remain, so you can enjoy their geometric dining room and ostentatious golden tiled bathroom. Can you find their pet lemur's centrally-heated bedroom? Victoria Courtauld's dressing room is full of period clothes and accessories.

There is so much to see inside, don't forget to head out into the gardens and explore the moat, with its cascading rockpools and London's oldest working bridge.

Eltham is the perfect family day out - where children can dress up in 1930s costumes and wartime uniforms, enjoy the play area, and explore the gardens with the Courtaulds' pet lemur on the animal trail. Afterwards, relax in our beautiful glasshouse café for hot and cold food, or take home a souvenir of the day from the Art Deco-inspired gift shop.

Parking:

Limited parking. Free for English Heritage members displaying a valid car sticker. Non-members must pay. Use SE9 5NP for sat nav directions to the car park. There are spaces available for Blue Badge holders. The car park gets very busy at weekends and in the school holidays; travel by public transport where possible.