Hever Castle was the home of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Her family built a Tudor dwelling within the walls of the existing medieval castle. With George Boleyn's conviction for treason the crown seized the estate. When Henry VIII annulled his marriage to Anne of Cleves he leased her Hever Castle. After her death Sir Edward Waldegrave, a member of Mary Tudor's Council, assigned the Castle and estate to himself.
HB went on a Time Travellers Tudor tour of the castle.
We saw Anne Boleyn's bedroom. It was a little smaller than HB's room and she shared it with her sister.
We looked at a tapestry which showed Anne and her sister Mary as ladies in waiting in France. We looked at prayer books owned by Anne, including the book of hours that she had with her in the Tower of London.
We looked at portraits of Henry's wives in the Queens' Chamber whilst our guide talked the children through his wives and what happened to them. The room had mannequinns representing Anne Boleyn, her sister Mary and Henry VIII.
We visited the room where Henry VIII is thought to have slept whilst courting Anne. Much of the panelling and the ceiling dates from the Tudor period. We learnt that Henry VIII would often bring his bed with him, forcing the Boleyn's to disassemble their bed and have the King's bed reassembled in the room.
After the tour we attended a workshop on Tudor society. Each level of society was represented by a different hat, which the children got to try on.
After the talk HB played with some Tudor toys.
HB had a long play in their excellent playground. Then we looked at miniature houses showing different time periods and went in the maze. HB completed it really quickly.
We enjoyed a walk through the gardens.
We found the water maze but it was shut, so HB sat and designed a new one.
We hope to return to Hever in the summer and explore a little further.
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