A delightful day, with sunshine and fields of daffodils in peak bloom everywhere.
Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn and where she was courted by Henry VIII. Many of the scenes form Anne of a Thousand Days were filmed here. Since the Boleyns, Hever has had a few owners. It was given to Anne of Cleves as part of the divorce settlement. The Astor family owned it for a couple of generations until the late 1960’s. JJ Astor, yes he that went down with the Titanic put a lot of work and money into the place and what we see today is largely thanks to him. Especially the Italian Garden and ornamental lake. He also acquired many artefacts of Anne Boleyn and fair play to him because he did a really good job!.
Penshurst Place only a few miles from Hever was also given to Anne of Cleves, It was subsequently given to the Sidney family by Edward VI and in whose ownership it has remained ever since. Penshurst had it’s most beautiful face on today and a troop of period entertainers were performing in the garden, they had music , dancing and singing from the Tudor period Visitors could dress up in costume to walk around the house and gardens for the day.
We were interviewed by some journalist students from City University for a short film they were making titled Anne Boleyn as a role model. In the background one of the performers fired a musket that made us all jump on camera! The video will be finished in may and we'll put it on Galliard
No comments:
Post a Comment