Hever Castle and Gardens: Part Three

If you love your Tudor history, Hever Castle is the perfect place to get up close to several significant pieces of 16th century history. Built in 1271, it is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII who was Queen for only 1,000 days and mother of Elizabeth I. Anne’s family name was Bullen but when she was in France in the king’s court, she decided to adopt the way a French person would spell it phonetically.

As well as the beautiful gardens the castle itself is well worth visiting. It’s not very big for a castle, and some of the rooms are quite cosy you could say. Audio guides are included in Castle admission prices. They are available in English, French, German, Dutch, Russian and Chinese.

Inner Courtyard
The Great Chamber – used by the Boleyn family for entertainment. music, reading, poetry readings and occasional dining.

I’m not usually keen on photographing interiors and especially when I only have my phone with me as the light can be poor, but I do like to grab shots of little details that I find interesting.

Henry VIII portrait and the costume as used in Wolf Hall and The Mirror and the Light (TV series)
Wall tapestry
Carvings above a fireplace
King Henry VIII’s Bedchamber, though it is believed that he would never have actually stayed the night here. The costume of Anne Boleyn from Wolf Hall and The Mirror and the Light (TV series)
Intricate design on the door of the Great Hall
Another of Henry VIII costume in what is known as his bedchamber
Anne Boleyn’s Book of Hours c, 1425 – 50 This prayer book was hand-written and illuminated in Bruges. Inside Anne has written her famous inscription “le temps viendra” (the time will come). She signed her name Anne Boleyn and and drew a small astrolabe or armillary sphere.
More detail of carvings on fireplaces, the dining table in the Great Hall and two German swords used for beheadings.

It takes about an hour to go around the castle and the Castle is usually busiest in the morning and early afternoon. I would recommend late afternoon to avoid school parties.

William Waldorf Astor used his fortune to restore and extend the Castle in the early 20th century.

[Wolf Hall is a British television series adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel’s novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a fictionalised biography documenting the life of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. The second series was adapted from The Mirror & the Light, the final novel in the trilogy. Both are excellent series and available in the UK on iPlayer.]

If you want to know more about Hever Castle,  Anne Boleyn and the rooms in the castle then I recommend visiting the website (link below).

Hever Castle & Gardens
Hever
Edenbridge
Kent TN8 7NG

Published by

Unknown's avatar

Heyjude

I have lived in the UK for most of my life, but when young I definitely had wanderlust and even ended up living in South Africa for several years which was a wonderful experience. I now look forward to a long and leisurely retirement doing what I like most - gardening, photography, walking and travelling.

38 thoughts on “Hever Castle and Gardens: Part Three”

    1. I studied the Tudor period in history at school so enjoyed this visit. The TV series are fab, and I imagine the books must be.

      1. I sort of remember studying it in history. But I had a very uninspiring teacher that just quoted dates and names, no juicy bits… must check out if the series played over here.

        1. I remember history lessons in my 5th form on a Friday afternoon in a very warm classroom. The teacher had a very soporific voice and I would doze off. The number of times I was awoken by him calling “Judith” , luckily it was usually the other one in the class.

        2. The geography teacher used to throw the blackboard rubber, very accurately, if you weren’t behaving.😵‍💫

    1. Perhaps there is. I just copied that from the website. The audio guide allows you to select a language.

  5. Very interesting, and I love all those little details you’ve captured, especially the carvings above the fireplace and the Book of Hours 🙂

    1. I wish I had taken my camera with the prime lens which is brilliant in this sort of light. But the castle and the audio guide are really good. A very enjoyable visit.

  6. Love the fact that you have taken some interior images of the castle, as I never managed to get inside the castle. Love the detail details of all the various wood carvings.

    1. It’s not very accessible, I was a tad nervous on some of the stairs. Very interesting information on the audio guide.

  7. I loved both series of ‘Wolf Hall’ so much, some of the best TV I have ever seen. Mark Rylance was simply outstanding as Cromwell, he completely inhabited the role. I would happily watch it all again.

    Best wishes, Pete.

    1. We, watched Wolf Hall again before the second series and enjoyed it just as much. We’re going to watch the ITV programme tonight. Shardlake. And I agree with you that Rylance was amazing in the role, I also enjoyed Damian Lewis as Henry.

        2. No, I bought one years ago, (Dissolution, I think) but still haven’t read it yet! It’s in a box somewhere, brought here from London. 😊

  9. Hever is so interesting, as we noted before, Jude. I wasn’t a great scholar – only bothered with subjects I liked 😁 – but I do remember one thing I did to which I gave uncharacteristic time and effort, a project on the six wives. It’s ridiculous how much of what I learned I can still remember 55 or so years later!

    1. I think the Tudor dynasty was very interesting. If you haven’t watched the TV programmes then I recommend them.

Comments are closed.