Elizabethan Week, Day Three: Palaces

If I listed all the Tudor-era palaces and castles, I think we would be here all day!!  There are so many, each with their own fascinating history and legends.  So I will stick to places I've actually used so far in my Kate Haywood books, with links where they're available.  (A great source for these places is Simon Thurley's The Royal Palaces of Tudor England.  I also keep lots of pics on my Pinterest boards for the mysteries--I am a Pinterest addict!)

First up: Hatfield House, where Elizabeth lived most of the time as a princess!  (There is only a smallish section of her house left, called Hatfield Old House, but the newer palace, built by the Burghleys in the next century, is also worth a look!)

Link to Hatfield House

The Tower!  (I love visiting The Tower, even though I always get a creepy, shivery feeling when I'm there, and am sometimes prone to crying just a little bit.  I freaked my mom out the first time she went there with me, when i started crying over things that happened in 1536...)

The Tower of London site

Whitehall!  Of course, the massive complex of Tudor times is almost completely gone, except for the Banqueting Hall and a few archaeological remains...

Whitehall Site

Hampton Court (I love visiting Hampton Court!!  It just "feels" so Tudor, and I am a sucker for costumed tour guides.  I dream of being able to attend one of their banquets or jousts someday.  I am also hoping for a tiny glimpse of Katherine Howard's ghost...)

Hampton Court

Westminster Palace & Abbey

This is the Great Hall where coronation banquets took place (I loved writing about the lavish coronation festivities for book two, Murder at Westminster Abbey!)

Westminster Abbey

And the book I am working on now takes place at the long-gone Nonsuch Palace!

The Wikipedia entry for Nonsuch...

Which is your favorite??  Do you have any good palace-visiting stories???