After our Murder Mystery weekend, it seemed quite appropriate on our way home, to stop off and visit Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. I was surprised to learn that most of what the visitor sees today is the result of the work carried out by the wealthy American businessman, William Waldorf Astor. He bought the castle in 1903 and spent a lot of his fortune restoring Hever, even building a village in the Tudor style, connected to the rear of the castle by a covered bridge, so that his friends and family could stay there in comfort, whilst filling the castle with antique portraits and furniture.
The castle sits in such a peaceful setting and looking at it, through what the guidebook told me was Anne Boleyn’s orchard, I wondered just how much of what is there today would be familiar to her and decided, sadly, that the answer is probably not much. Anne became Henry VIII’s second wife and although Queen for just 1000 days, it was his love for her and her refusal to become his mistress that led to some of the most tumultuous events in British history. It is also what continues to bring visitors to Hever Castle in their thousands every year.
Hever Castle
Drawbridge
Drawbridge and moat
The courtyard
A view of the Tudor village
A view of the castle through Anne Boleyn’s orchard
40again's Blog 
I love old English castles. I always wanted to go on a murder mystery weekend but never got round to it before we left
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Me too, althought Hever didn’t look as old as I expected. This was probably due to all the renovations that have been carried out over the years, still a great place to visit and parts of the estate are still the same.
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Beautiful photos.
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Thank you, glad you liked them 🙂
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Great place to be. Great pictures 🙂
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Thank you.
It’s a great place to visit 🙂
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The caste looks enchanting, and the pictures are great! Lovely post 🙂
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So glad you liked the photos. The film “Anne of the Thousand Days” was on tv recently and it was great that they were able to use the actual location of Anne’s home for the film.
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You inspire me to visit. So sad to think how Anne’s happiness was short-lived. Life can be like that for sure.
holiday hugs…hugmamma. 🙂
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Thanks for your comment hugmamma. It is very hard to imagine what Anne’s life would have been like, Hever is a lovely place and I just hope she found some happiness there 🙂
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