Hever Castle
On a rainy day in March we wondered to the Tudor Castle and childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII.
The oldest part of the castle dates to 1270 and consisted of the gatehouse and a walled bailey. In the early 1500s the Bullen family bought the castle and added a Tudor dwelling within the walls and so it became the childhood home of its most famous inhabitant, Anne Boleyn. It later passed into the ownership of Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. From 1557 onwards the Castle was owned by a number of families including the Waldegraves, the Humfreys and the Meade Waldos. Finally, in 1903, William Waldorf Astor invested time, money and imagination in restoring the Castle, building the ’
Hever Castle and Spring daffodils
Front entrance of caastle with draw bridge
Entrance looking out to garden
Picnic by the lake in the Italian gardens
Pavillon by the lake and fountain
The cascades
the magnificent brass tomb of Sir Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and father of Queen Ann Boleyn.
Spring blossoms and daffodils in the gardens
St. Peter's church Hever dates back to the 12th Century and worship has been held here for over 875 years. It contains the tomb of Sir Thomas Bullen, father of Anne Boleyn and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth the First.
Carlyn standing in front of the Tudor Village built to house staff and guest in the early 1900's
