19th - 21st of September, 2025 - Back to Hever


Three lovely days back at Heavenly Hever!

Lisa's brainwave had me staying at a Heathrow hotel and thank goodness it did! It took me 2 hours to pick up the car but I eventually got myself on the road. It was a little bit hairy getting out of Heathrow and London traffic, but I soon got used to driving on English roads and happily tootled my way down to Kent. I arrived at Hever half an hour before my first History talk began. Perfick.

Between this afternoon and this evening's talks, I wandered the gardens, took a million photos and climbed a hill so that I could look down over Hever and lie on the grass making snow angels in the beautiful green that is quintessentially English.

Late night talks and made my way back to my accommodation through the deserted ground of Hever Castle, only to find that my upstairs room looks direct into the Castle's Long Gallery windows, so I sat and stared for ages, hoping to see the ghost of Anne of Cleves appear in the window, but alas, no such luck.

The next day I tried to make a mad dash to see Canterbury Cathedral, but 5 minutes after leaving, the car behind me motioned for me to pull over because my "heat shield" (what even IS that?!) was flapping underneath and could cause damage. I called Roadside Assist and sat waiting for 2 1/2 hours for Johnny to turn up. Johnny was just lovely, but told me it was just a bit of plastic and fixed it with a zip tie. By then I had to get back to Hever for the afternoon talks, so I'm gonna miss out on Canterbury, but at least the car is ok and I made it back in time for all my Tudor talks, so I'm choosing to be happy about what I have done and not unhappy about what I haven't. I'm pretty sure Canterbury Cathedral will still be there next time I'm in the neighbourhood, so all is not lost.

There's also a Craft Fair on in the grounds, so I spent the afternoon shopping (and yes, that IS going to be an issue when I'm packing to head home) before the evening talks which didn't finish until almost 11 o'clock. Hever is so peaceful at night and the Castle looks so beautiful lit up.

I made lots of new friends wandering around Hever


And took a liking to this mushroom, don't ask me why.
I think maybe I admired that it survives the local wildlife and was standing firm!

The last day of talks I walked up to the Chapel on the edge of the Hever grounds and went looking for Thomas Boleyn (Anne's much maligned father)'s grave. Of course it was IN the Chapel, so then I had to stay for the morning service, which actually was lovely.


On my way out I found a gorgeous leafy path, so between the morning and afternoon talks, I came back to it and followed it, just because. It was the MOST gorgeous walk. I walked for an hour before I decided I should probably get back and almost missed the start of the final history session (horror!) but I made it just in time and so I got the best of both worlds.


The talks finished early because it's the last day, but I'm not leaving Hever until tomorrow morning, so I took myself over to the Henry VIII pub and chatted up all the locals. Sat and talked much longer than I had intended but had such a fun night.

Hever is just divine.



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