Six Wives of One King day 7

Day 7 Hever castle and Penshurst Place
We travel north from Lewes into the high Weald of Kent & Sussex to Hever castle the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Pausing again briefly in the village of Hartfield to shop at Pooh Corner, Winnie the Pooh is not exactly Tudor but historic and delightful none the less. Visitors come from all over the world to see the real sights of these famous stories.

Hever Castle was looking splendid in the late summer sunshine after the rain yesterday and to walk around the perfectly manicured lawns & grounds is a pleasure. The castle has had a long history and has passed through a few hands since Anne Boleyn was here. One previous owner was Anne of Cleves who was given it as part of her divorce settlement. It fell into disrepair for 150 years until it was bought by W.W. Astor who set about restoring the castle to it’s former glory and creating the Italian gardens. He did a good job of it too, there was to be a wedding held in the afternoon we were there and the great hall was being set for the dinner. There are many portraits and artefacts of Anne Boleyn in the castle including her book of hours(prayer book) inscribed by her in the margin.

Just outside the gates of the castle is the parish church of Hever, touching notice on the wall reads “here lies Thomas Boleyn grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I” something that is not generally thought about.

After Hever we set off across the high Weald to Penshurst Place Home of the Sidney Family for over 450 years. The p[lace has a completely different feel to Hever as it has been in the same family for all that time. The walled garden holds an apple orchard, fish ponds, a union jack flag, half the size of a football field that you can see the red & white roses and blue lavender form the air as you land at Gatwick airport.

Elizabeth I visited here often as the place had fine hunting lands and the parkland is open to the public to walk around. Many period films were made here including “ Anne of a Thousand days” and The other Boleyn Girl, some of the costumes from that films are on display. Richard burton lost out for the best actor Oscar in 1968 to John Wayne in True Grit, not often a king loses to a Duke.

We spent the night in an old coaching Inn in the town of Tonbridge, the staircases wander around up and down before you reach your rooms.