Hever Castle

A fairytale castle with a fairytale history Hever is touched with romance. Hever Castle is a romantic double-moated castle with a rich and varied history stretching back over seven centuries. The stone gatehouse and outer walls of the castle were constructed in the 13th century.

The castle is best known as the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and it was her family who added the comfortable Tudor manor house within these earlier walls in about 1500. It was here that Henry VIII saw Anne Boleyn and courted her. As history knows she married the king and, after giving birth to a daughter Elizabeth, was executed on the orders of the King.
There are various exhibitions in the castle featuring Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII later gave Hever Castle to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves and there is an exhibition in the castle about Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII's wives.

The American millionaire, William Waldorf Astor, acquired Hever Castle in 1903 and spent a great deal of time, money and imagination restoring it. Inside the castle the walls were covered with magnificent carving and panelling. The rooms are filled with wonderful antiques and works of art. A great collector of Antiquities he acquired many during his term as Ambassador to Italy and determined to restore the house to display his treasures in a suitable setting.

Between 1904 and 1908, William Astor further enhanced the castle's romantic setting by creating glorious gardens. These included the unique Italian garden, the maze, 35 acre lake and the rose garden.
In contrast to the informality of the English garden the four-acre Italian garden is decorated with statuary, busts, sarcophagi, columns and vases. All down one side is an immense loggia flanked by colonades which step down to a piazza and fountain on the lakeside. The north wall has alcoves filled with classical pieces. The unique Italian garden contains statuary and sculpture dating from Roman to Renaissance times, collected in Italy and brought to Hever, where it forms a magnificent sight among the glorious display of shrubs and climbing plants. One could almost imagine a third century Roman official having it built to remind him of home!

The Hever Castle maze, designed in 1905, survived a long period during which gardeners held hedge mazes in low esteem, and destroyed many. Today, they are popular once again, and the Hever Castle maze takes its place alongside many new labyrinths that have sprung up in the last decade, see also Leeds Castle, Longleat House, Hampton Court.

Visitors can now also enjoy the Guthrie Collection of miniature model houses in a fascinating exhibition adjoining the gift shop. The exhibition takes the visitor on a journey through the history of English country houses from mediaeval to Victorian times.

Return to the Fridge door