Sunday, August 4, 2013

UK Trip #32: Hever Castle: Castle History/Tea Time with Daffy/ Dog Tribute

Tom outside of Hever Castle
We finished our tour of Hever Castle and said goodbye to George Boleyn's ghost who was still lingering inside.

A LITTLE CASTLE HISTORY - As we left the great entryway we took a look back at the castle. We learned that the castle dated back over 700 years, and most of the inside had been refurbished by U.S. multi-millionaire William Waldorf Astor.
     However, the original medieval defensive castle and gatehouse was built in 1270 and in the 15th and 16th century was the home to powerful families, like the Boleyn family (that gave birth to Anne, Henry VIII's second queen). Anne's reign as queen only lasted 1,000 days.

HOW ANNE CHANGED ENGLISH HISTORY - Henry VIII's love for Anne Boleyn changed England. Because of Henry's insistence that Anne be his queen and not his mistress, the king renounced Catholicism and created the church of England (so he could get a divorce from Catherine, his first wife/queen).

Rob outside of Hever Castle

THE BOLEYN NAME GAME - We also learned that the spelling of Anne Boleyn's family name was originally "Bullens" and somehow got changed through history.   


Hever Castle's entrance
















TEA WITH DAFFY - We decided to walk around in some of the pathways outside.There was a small cafe in the gift shop where we stopped for some Tea and scones, and sat outside at a small table. That's when we were joined by a number of ducks, and one particular duck that we dubbed "Daffy" would not stop circling the table until we gave him some of our scone.


Daffy begged for some of our scone... he got some!
 DOG GRAVESITES - The Astor family apparently had a very large love for dogs. In one of the garden areas, we stumbled upon a number of gravesites that went along a walkway. In fact, there were eleven old dog graves. and each of them had a stone with the name of each dog. The gravesites were overgrown with vegetation, but we stopped to read each one of them.
   We were both very touched by the little graves for their dogs, and instantly appreciated the Astor family.
 
MAZES WE DIDN'T ATTEMPT - There were other things in the gardens, but we didn't check them out. There were 3 different garden mazes. The Tower Maze is all about the six wives of Henry VIII.Then
there was the Water Maze. You have to get to the
middle of the maze without getting wet dodging the brick platforms that are traps. The last maze was the Yew maze, made by Mr. Astor.

NEXT:  HOW ANOTHER QUEEN GOT THE BOLEYN CASTLE







Who I am

I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob

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