ABSTRACT
Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums has members across the world, and the annual conferences provide opportunities to interact with colleagues whose workplaces may be similar or very different from one's own. In this chapter, the authors discuss the challenges and rewards of working in the kitchens of London's Hampton Court Palace; a far cry from a frontier farm or colonial town. They especially emphasize the importance of interpretive planning: agreeing on the goals of the interpretation, thinking about the various problems there might be with the space or the equipment, and how the interpretive goals can best be conveyed to visitors. The interpretation of Hampton Court Palace is designed to show the continuous use of the buildings over the roughly 300 years that it was a Royal residence. At Hampton Court Palace, the physical space of the kitchens has had to be arranged in a historically incorrect fashion in order to allow the public into the rooms.
