Tourism

The Queens house is another prominent feature of the Greenwich park experience. It sits at the foot of the hill. It was; with little surprise, the Queen's actual house and was constructed in 1616 as her new residence. It has the distinction of being the shortest-occupied royal building on account of the English Civil war in 1642 forcing its regal inhabitants to take off and go in to hiding for the duration. After this it seem to have served a number of purposes from naval hospital, royal hospital school to gallery which is what it mostly is now.
It seems bigger on the outside than it does inside as the rooms and corridors are all familiarly modest, indeed some parts feel like they could almost be from your own home. It's well maintained and contains some fine example of both Victorian and Edwardian art; though it can hardly boast to be a gallery these days as there are not many works on display.
It got some exposure due to the Olympic Games in 2012 as the base of the equestrian centre and the house was the VIP area for the various riders and staff but you would not guess it now. Overall it's worth visiting as it is an important building (it was the very first example of "Classical Architecture" in the UK (designed by Indigo Jones). But we won't kid you into thinking this is the main reason to visit Greenwich, it should be part of a day out, not the reason for your day out because as an attraction it is a little on the empty side. Still it is still interesting to see where Queen Elizabeth once regularly slept. Like all of Greenwich its juts 35 mins drive from Grays town centre.

Postcode: SE10 9NF