Hever Castle the gardens and grounds.

Hever Castle is set in wonderful grounds, including parkland, Italian gardens, a yew maze and a water maze. I have lovely memories of my daughter and son aged about 9 and 5 getting absolutely soaked in the water maze when it first opened, and of course we hadn’t taken any spare clothes for them!! Still the water did actually wash off the large green felt tip spots my son had covered his tummy with before we had left home which he had insisted on showing to everyone we met…..lol happy days

he exit from the yew maze

The formal gardens

We did not manage to visit the water maze on this visit but we did go round the yew maze, which was great fun, we had fun finding the way to the centre, then we explored  the formal gardens near the castle.

The entrance to the Italian Gardens

I love this Faun, he looks really cheeky!

From there we walked through the Italian Gardens, which leads down to the lake. The Italian Garden is gorgeous,  borders and amazing statues wherever you look. The borders still had some colour in them when we visited, Autumn colours are so lovely.

We spent some time at the Pavilion down by the lake, it is a beautiful spot, then we walked back towards the Castle under the pergola exploring as we went. Instead of heading straight back to the Castle, we explored more of the grounds. We found some enchanting places, and was part of the grounds I had never seen before.

Walking through a small area of woodland we found a bench and rested our tired feet for a few minutes, before making our way back to the restaurant for a well earned cup of tea and the big piece of chocolate cake that have become a must on our outings!

The restaurant in the Italian Garden, sadly closed for the winter.

 

I hope you have enjoyed our visit to Hever, we really did!

Hever Castle

 

Our first view of the castle  

Hever Castle is quite simply my favourite Castle, there may be other fabulous castles in different parts of the country or the world but I think it would take a lot to beat this wonderful place.

Approaching the castle past the amazing topiary.

We had a happy day last month when my friend Sheila and I gave our cameras another outing and went to Hever Castle for the day. The weather was not fantastic but that didn’t worry us, we had a great time anyway!!

The moat and part of the Tudor Village.

I have decided to do two blogs on Hever, this one will be mainly the Castle, the next one will show the gardens and grounds.

Part of the Tudor Village.

Hever Castle is probably best known as being the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. The castle was started in 1270 and has had various periods of care and neglect, one period of care was when the Boleyn family owned the Castle, and another was in 1903 when William Waldorf Astor bought the Castle and did extensive restoration. One of the reasons I love this castle so much is because you could walk into it and live there very comfortably.

The Virginia Creeper looked wonderful in the autumn sunshine

The yew maze and Tudor Village from the gardens.

The interior of the castle is just magnificent, the carvings on the ground floor, some of which I believe were done by Grinling Gibbons, are just amazing, you can also view Anne Boleyn’s bedroom and a wonderful Long Gallery. Photos are not allowed inside the Castle but I have included some photos here of the sight that greets you when you walk across the drawbridge, which is a total surprise the first time you see it. I have also just read that Hever Castle has the oldest original working portcullis in England!

The portcullis.

The beautiful courtyard

You will notice the Tudor Village near the Castle, this is a range of mock Tudor buildings, used for conferences. The village was built by the Astor’s and blends beautifully with the older buildings.

Me on the drawbridge, courtesy of my friend Sheila

Remembrance