Buckden & Kimbolton

A tranquil jewel in the Tudor crown awaits the visitor to Buckden Towers. Here Henry VIII banished Catherine of Aragon before moving her o to Kimbolton 6 miles away.
Buckden is formerly the Bishop of Lincoln’s palace and has many royal visitors but Catherine is the most enduring. The Duke of Suffolk tried to move her but the local people stood in his way so after a 5 day stand off, he went away to get some more men. The friends of Buckden have re-created the knot garden and in the summer even bring out some pomegranate trees.
Buckden is now owned by the Claretian Catholic missionaries and is a very peaceful place. Our guide for the afternoon also took us into the 700 year parish church right next door and showed us some unique wooden carvings of angels holding up the roof.
Kimbolton is now a private school but is where Catherine of Aragon lived for the last 20 months of her life keeping herself and a few trusted servants of just a couple of rooms. She died of a broken heart and it’s a real privilege to be in the room and hear the last letter she wrote to Henry from the very room in which she died. It’s now the Principals office.
Modern day school students are a bit less reverential, this being sport relief day, a national day of charity fundraising. Students came dressed up and one was even a banana!
The George hotel in Stamford was our inn for the night and it dates back to the year 947. The travelling fun fair was in town , there were waltzers and dodgems in the town square and of course lots of Catherine wheels.