Ever since I worked on a school project when I was around 12, I've had a small obsession with the Tudor period. Henry VIII fascinated me. He started his reign with so much hope, charm and possibilities for the age, but ended with as a paranoid, cantankerous old man with a trail of headless bodies behind him, including a couple of queens. I think every child at school learnt the rhyme 'Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. As I've grown older my fascination hasn't waned. London has so much history to discover and I love visiting historical buildings like Hampton Court and the Tower of London. I currently live near Syon House, and like to imagine what it would have looked like during the Tudor period, when Henry VIII would stay there, and legend has it, use the secret tunnels underneath to get to the local pub to meet his mistresses. Syon House is where poor Catherine Howard was imprisoned before her journey to the Tower. It is also one of the locations where Henry's body stopped on its journey from London to Windsor and, famously where, whilst resting overnight, his bloated corpse exploded in its coffin. Not the most glamorous end for one of our most well known monarchs. But enough about the King, the Queens deserve our time too, none more so than Anne Boleyn. She was the woman who caused Henry to split from Rome and create the Church of England, the mother of Elizabeth I and the first Queen to be beheaded. To me she has always been the most interesting and engaging of his wives so I decided it was high time I left historic London and headed out to Kent, to visit her childhood home, Hever Castle.
We arrived at 11am, and as the sun was shining we decided to start by walking around the 38 acre lake. Whilst this wasn't here in Anne Boleyn's era, it is a delightful and tranquil trail to take. Even though it was a Saturday in August we hardly saw anyone else on this route.
My favourite part of the lake walk had to be the Japanese style tea house. Reconstructed in 2013 it is a new addition to the lake and gives you the perfect place to sit and take in the view for a few minutes.
We continued on our walk past fountains and swans until, finally, the castle came into view.
We were ready to head indoors and explore the castle, but the skies had darkened. Because of this we decided to go against logic and walk round the rest of the gardens first. We figured if it did rain, it was going to rain for the rest of the afternoon, so we should see as much outdoors as we could before it happened. As luck would have it, apart from a few threatening drops the day stayed dry. And the gardens are blooming lovely. Definitely worth your time.
When Stuart started pilfering blackberries from the gardens I realised it was probably time for lunch, so we stopped off at the cafe, for something similar to what I like to think the Boleyn's may have eaten (minus the potatoes of course!) - a hearty steak and ale pie.
Refuelled, we were ready to head indoors and check out the castle. But first we had to get past the knights who had shown up for the jousting tournament. When we arrived we hadn't realised there was a special jousting event happening, and although we didn't go watch it, it was fun to see the horses riding past in all their regalia and actors playing the part of rebels, calling the knight to the field. Henry VIII himself strode past me, but alas, too quickly for me to grab a picture.
With the crowds heading off to watch the jousting the castle was relatively quiet, so we could enjoy it at our own pace and stop to really look at the parts we found most compelling. The whole building was smaller than I would expect of a castle, but had lots more space than I thought it would. That probably doesn't make sense, but it does to me! It is decorated in various eras, not solely Tudor period but there are nods to its Boyle heritage spotted around everywhere.
I particularly liked whoever choose these two cats for decoration! So as well as the more modern drawing room showed above, there are old detailed tapestries, stunning stain glass windows, beautiful views and much much more.
I wish I could show you more photos of the place, but I feel I've already posted so many that if anyone actual reads this they may have got bored by now anyway! Safe to say I really enjoyed Hever Castle. The building and the grounds are flawless. I really wish it were mine. There's nothing I can fault. I would love to live in such a historic building and stunning grounds. Alas, it will never be so!
And believe it or not, we still hadn't explored all the gardens. So after feeding the ducks and trying out the maze, we made one last wander through the gardens.
Finally, we were back where we started at the lake. There was only one way for to top off this splendid day out - ICE CREAM!
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