A Most Pleasant Day

What a sea-change today.  Low humidity, cooler temperatures - a much happier me! 

 

We took the train to Hever and because we are dumb adventurous we decided to walk the mile from the station to the castle.  The footpath started out clearly marked with an arrow pointing "Hever Castle". And that was the beginning and end of the directions.  We once again were the only people outside in the great out-of-doors of Kent (or so it seemed).  We made a wrong turn or two, backtracked, and questioned ourselves.  We were up on high bluffs and kept thinking we'd see the castle in the distance - not! We finally popped out on a narrow lane which led into the car park for the castle.  As it turns out Hever Castle is hidden down in the depths of a small valley.

 

Thank goodness for whatever saint looks after wayward tourists!  

 

Hever Castle is a small 'family-sized' castle and was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the 2nd of Henry VIII's wives.  Henry VIII courted her from the nearby Bolebrook Castle and is supposed to have visited here often. After Anne's death, Henry VIII gave the castle to Anne of Cleves as part of her settlement following the annulment of their marraige.  The castle then passed into the Waldegrave and Meade Waldo families.

 

In 1903 William Waldorf Astor bought the castle, and being an Astor poured money into it its restoration.   He had all these pseudo Tudor buildings constructed as guest houses.  The castle tour was most interesting - Astor spared no expense and there are lovely ceilings and woodwork.

There is a great collection of Tudor portraits and two of Anne Boleyn's prayer books - much good they did her!  There is also a collection of truly lovely needlework.

Astor's restoration did not stop with the house.

The grounds are lovely.

I think I enjoyed the Italian Garden the most.

The wall to the right features a shade garden.  

It drips with water and mosses and ferns.

The rest of the Italian Garden is bright and sunlit.

It was built so as to feature the many items of art Waldorf had collected during his time as ambassador to Italy.

I think I enjoyed this garden so much because it is thematically so different from the many "English Gardens" I've visited lately.

Urns, and lavender, boxwood,and cypress.

Oh, and some roses as well.

Being the home of an Astor, if there is a water feature, then let's make it a 36 acre water feature!

And if you have a 36 acre water feature, then you need a massive fountain to set it off.

 

The waterlilies were happy.

 

And so were the many birds.

The baby ducklings were under a small plank near the moat in the shade, and were well guarded by their mama.  

We enjoyed strolling about the gardens.

I collected a couple of plant pairings I liked including this one of verbena bonariensis and echinops.

This is yarrow and, ummm, something else yellow!

We saved the forest garden (rhododendron walk) for last.

The rhododendrons have bloomed, but the walk was pleasant nonetheless. 

Here's a vibrant green acer. 

The walk ended down a rhododendron lined path back to the castle. 

And we ended our stay at Hever Castle with double scoop chocolate ice cream cones!