I remember visiting Hever Castle about 25 years ago and being wowed by it. It’s both intimate and grand. This picture is a little misleading, but very beautiful….
This is a folly - a fantasy structure - built by 19th century owner William Waldorf Astor, an Anglophile and America’s wealthiest man in the Gilded Age. It’s a pavilion for a 38-acre swimming lake that he also created.
Hever Castle - in the village of Hever, Kent - has everything you’d expect from a fairytale medieval castle: towers, battlements, a moat and drawbridge, plus beautiful gardens and maze. Not just that: It was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s ill-fated second wife, and her sister, Mary Boleyn, Henry’s sometime mistress.
Their stories and this castle live on.
The oldest parts of the castle, the gatehouse and walled bailey, date from 1270.
Portcullis gate and authentic 15th century half-timbered interior courtyard
16th century Long Gallery
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