Hever Castle – Learning about the Tudors and Anne Boleyn

Ethan has been learning about the Tudors in school and has been very interested in the topic. We’ve been looking at spending a day out and I figured that visiting a castle that had links to the Tudors would be a great day out as well as a learning experience.

Hever Castle was Anne Boleyn’s childhood home and this seemed a good place to start our Tudor learning. Ethan was also very curious to see if Anne Boleyn’s figures would have six fingers as the myth goes.

Kent is rightly called the garden city and it was a gorgeous day when we visited – sunny skies and just the right temperature. Hever Castle is located in Edenbridge, about a one-hour drive from London.

The Castle itself is not very large and it doesn’t take long to complete. It does have a moat around it and is really pretty. We walked around the rooms and the children were most interested in everything. We saw what was probably Anne Boleyn’s room when she lived there as a little girl, the bed that King Henry VIII probably slept in…

 

…and the Book of Hours. The Book of Hours room houses two prayer books of Anne Boleyn’s which bear her signature.

We did see some figures of Anne Boleyn but she had five fingers on each hand so Ethan had something to take back the news that her having six fingers is a myth.

I personally love the library as it looks so cozy and perfect for reading.

There was also a room which showed the various torture instruments and it was a bit eerie to think of how inhuman people could be.

It’s so amazing to walk through these places and feel the history.

 

The gardens are beautiful even though there weren’t many flowers in bloom. I can imagine how lovely they must look in summer.

There’s also a Yew Maze but it was quite messy and we didn’t have the right shoes so we didn’t go in. The Water Maze was not open.

There is also a Kent Yeomanry exhibition which is very interesting.

 

For children there is an adventure playground called the Tudor Towers with turrets and a moat and drawbridge.

The lake is stunning and though we didn’t walk around it, we did a little bit of it and the children fed the ducks with the feed from the shop.

Within the shop, there is an exhibition of  miniature model houses and the attention to detail for each one is really stunning.

There are restaurants to eat hot food as well as purchase drinks and you can also picnic at tables outside the Hever shop.

Hever Castle is a wonderful place to visit with family. There are even overnight stays that can be booked.

Tickets for the Castle and Gardens online cost £16.25 for an adult and £9.20 for a child and a family ticket costs £42.95 (family of four) This is excellent value for money as there is so much to do.

To find out more, visit Hever Castle

Here are some more images from our day…

 

 

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