Hever Castle: Kent, England

It's fair to say that some castles have more history than others, and that's very much the case with Hever Castle. What makes it so special is one family who played a pivotal part in British history, the Boleyns. The family bought the castle, which dates back to 1270, in the early 1500s and added a Tudor dwelling to the existing gatehouse. This was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, otherwise known as the second of King Henry VIII's six wives. In those days, the idea of a king having a second wife was unheard of, unless his first should tragically die. In this case though, wife number one was very much alive, but Henry decided that he wanted to marry Anne, and that meant a divorce. This was something the church at the time couldn't contemplate, but that was a small matter for Henry, who was determined that church leaders wouldn't stand in the way of his wishes. This led to the establishment of theChurch of England, with the British King or Queen as the supreme head of the church, rather than that authority lying in Rome, as it had done for many hundreds of years. That's why the name of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII are so well known in British history.

It's probably this link that attracts many visitors to Hever Castle, but there's much more to the castle's history than just that, a fact I never realized until our recent visit. After King Henry ordered the beheading of his second wife for treason, Hever Castle was taken away from the Boleyn family as punishment and was later passed on to Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. It then passed through the ownership of a number of different families, before finally settling with the Astor family in the early 1900s, and this is where it was really brought back to life. By then, the castle needed someone who was prepared to invest a lot of time, money, and indeed love into the castle and that's exactly what William Waldorf Astor did – and that's why it now makes such a great place to visit.

All too often, when you go to castles, there's something to see inside the main building itself and then there are usually gardens or grounds surrounding it for you to wander through, but not normally much to take in. Hever Castle is a very different beast. Inside the castle, they take you on a tour of life in Tudor times, when Anne Boleyn would have lived there. On display are two prayer books, signed and inscribed by Anne. It's amazing to look at them and realize that the writing in front of you dates from such a famous woman, writing more than five hundred years earlier.