Hever Castle, Anne And Henry,

we were up early to catch to train from Beckenham via Bromley to Rainham,

Hi, from Diana,

but due to me getting on the wrong train, D'Oh! we arrived in Gillingham, but we had already spoken to Duncan so he meet us there, then to the High Street for some goodies and we were away,

first stop food and where else than the King Henry VIII pub,

literally just round the corner from Hever Castle,

the menu comes with a history of the building, it started life in the 13th century, but it was not called Henry VIII till 1647,

details if you want to go there,

fish and chips for Duncan and myself, sausages for Amber,

tuna sandwich and chips for Diana, considering how near it was to a tourist area the meal seemed quite reasonable,

'Cheers!',

from all of us

Henry VIII was even woven into the carpet,

then we were off, past the church at the entrance,

through the main gate,

and there was Hever Castle where so much history was written,

a copy of the guide, and a map of the estate, it was not as big as this in Henry's time, I read inside the house the lake is man made and was dug by over 1,000 laborers, the lake covers some 45 acres,

although the day was over cast it looked as pretty as a picture,

the lawns and gardens were beautifully laid out,

with stunning examples of topiary on both sides of the drive,

Amber was having great fun calling out the names of each of the figures as we walked past them,

they must have taken years to achieve these shapes,

another one this time a snail,

the drawbridge was down so in we went,

as you go into the arch it opens up into a courtyard,

a Tudor facade greets you, it is amazing to think that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn could have walked in exactly the same steps,

unfortunately no pictures allowed, so after looking inside we explored the grounds, there was a group teaching people how to use a long bow which looked fun,

and the maze, luckily it was not too big or we would have still been there!

the exit to the maze,

Amber just loves dogs,

there are many features in the grounds, like this fountain,

and springs,

immaculate lawns,

with vases as ornaments placed at the ends of them,

walled lawns,

and covered walkways,

the smell of roses was lovely, it is funny how you forget something like that living in Thailand, the roses in a garden over in Thailand do not seem to have any scent,

then we went to the lake,

to our horror we found out that Diana did not know how to row! so we waited for the electric boat,

inside the boat house,

Diana was not to sure about this at all,

but we were soon on our way,

past the ornamental fountain at one end of the lake,

and into the far wild end of it,

still wild overcast skies that have never really seemed to have left us for the whole holiday so far,

then we were back to walking around the gardens,

Diana and Amber pose for the camera, tucked away up here is a small stage for plays and the dahlia garden,

another small walled garden with a fish pond,

marigolds every where in this flower bed,

I am not sure what these are but when the sun shone on them they looked so yellow,

I was trying to get Diana to have a go with the bow and arrow, but she was not to sure about it,

so we started to walk to the car park to make our way home,

a lovely and interesting day out, of you want to know more about the castle look here.