The Armchair Traveller

About a month ago I was fortunate to be invited to spend the weekend with Rachel’s aunt and uncle. It was the long weekend in the UK and so the plan was to go down to Surrey on Saturday and come back up to London on Monday night. Sunday was reserved for a trip out to Hever Castle in Kent.

Hever castle is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn (Second wife of King Henry VIII) and the gardens which surround the castle are almost more impressive than the castle itself! So on Sunday morning Rachel, Fiona and I drove off to the castle. Once we paid our entry tickets it was about 11am and the person selling the tickets suggested we head straight for the castle because it was expected to get busy later as they has a Spring festival taking place over the weekend. We had parked at the back of the castle grounds so we had a fantastic walk through the Italian themed gardens to reach the castle. The gardens were all so rustic and there was a lake with boats on it and even a very Italianate marble fountain, so pretty.

The castle itself is a fortified castle with a moat and drawbridge, but once over the bridge and inside the inner courtyard the castle is very Tudor in style – it is almost unrecognisable from the exterior! We were not able to take photos inside the castle but needless to say it was very old and full of intimate spaces, four poster beds, lots of woodwork and tapestries and was generally quite dark inside. It was lovely though and I am so glad we made that our first stop because as we left the building we were shocked by how long the queue to get in was and it never seemed any smaller when we walked past later in the day!

Because we were visiting during a festival there were many activities taking place throughout the day as well as actors dressed up like members of the Tudor Court. We were formally introduced to Anne Boleyn (because Fiona made friends with one of the queens stewards) and we were expected to bow in front of her! It was quite amusing to watch the role playing going on. I think for Fiona the funniest part was when they were looking for volunteers to learn some sort of dance and Rachel and I saw the steward coming in our direction to grab us and we found ourselves walking incredibly fast in the opposite direction!! I wasn’t that keen on dancing with the Tudor royals

So after the quick exit from outside the castle entrance we continued to explore the amazing gardens and found ourselves on a walking track known as the ‘Sunday Walk’ – how appropriate since we were there on a Sunday. But what we thought would be a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll was more like a hike! How they would have done that walk in those dresses back in the day I am not sure but it was still a nice walk even if it was a steep one.

Later in the afternoon there was an Archery tournament. When we had first arrived at the Castle they were giving archery lessons but since we went into the castle first we missed out on that opportunity and just enjoyed the tournament as spectators. There were three targets for them to hit – an archery target, a deer and a hoop they had to pass through. It was very enjoyable to watch the ones who were good at archery as well as the ones who were not.

Once the tournament finished we found out there was another activity about to take place – teaching anyone who wanted to learn how to march in front of the King as though you were a member of his army – but it was more of an activity for the kids so Rachel, Fiona and I walked over to the Water Maze, another attraction of the gardens. This was a stone fort set in the middle of a big pond. The pond had a maze of stepping stones and some of the stones would move if you stood on them sending a spray of water to block your way unless you wanted to get wet! The aim was to get to the fort in the middle without getting wet – this was actually quite challenging considering that every child there was aiming to get wet! It was chaos but it was fun and I did actually make it to the tower without getting wet so that was a bonus

After an ice cream and a stroll through the customary gift store we headed back to the car for the journey home having had a thouroughly enjoyable day learning about English history as well as enjoying the sunny outdoors. I would definitely reccommend Hever Castle as a place to visit.

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