Hever Castle & Gardens and Six the Musical

Saturday, June 4

I walked to Victoria station from my AirBnB (about an 8 minute walk and by now I knew the route really well), to board a train to Hever. Hever is about an hour outside of London and I changed trains at a suburb called East Croydon.

My goal at Hever was to see Hever Castle, which was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Anne was King Henry VIII's second wife (out of six) and the mother of Elizabeth I. She was the first of Henry's wives that was beheaded. She was accused of adultery, incest, and conspiracy against the king. (All things that didn't happen.) Mostly he was probably pissed that she wasn't producing a male heir in efficient time. Elizabeth wasn't even three years old yet when her mother was executed.

The "B" necklace is iconic!

Anne is also seen as the impetus of the creation of the Church of England -- the Anglican or Episcopalian religion. You see, Henry VIII was married already when he met and fell in love with Anne. The Catholic Church wouldn't grant him a divorce from his first wife, so he just... created his own religion for England and did that instead of being Catholic. Bold move, Henry.

I had heard a lot about Hever Castle and wanted to visit, so this trip was the time to do it! The train to Hever drops you off in a pretty rural landscape and I had a one mile walk ahead of me to get to the castle.

Walking in the English countryside is incredibly pleasant. It's so different than the United States because there are laws in place called "right to roam" which "allows the public to enter and remain on open access land for the purposes of open-air recreation." You can just walk through farmers' fields! You're really in the middle of nowhere, dodging sheep and sheep poo in a field. I love thinking about all that has happened on the land over the centuries.

Look at this cutie little walking path.

Anyway, the walk took about 20 minutes and I passed by a pub aptly named.

Found a church 'round the corner from the pub.

Loved this furry moss-covered gravestone. Look at the skull at the top. So cool. 

Here was my first look at the castle.

I believe it wasn't quite open yet when I arrived, so I had an early lunch one of the cafes. I had a sausage roll and a slice of lemon poppy seed loaf. Delish!

When the castle opened up, I walked right in.

You walk over the moat on the drawbridge to enter.

The courtyard just over the drawbridge

Lots of beautiful rooms. I can't remember if there was an audio tour, but I feel like I was rushing through and didn't get to fully enjoy everything.

Koi fish in the moat

After enjoying the house, I walked around the extensive gardens. Very beautifully manicured. Hardly anyone walking around them because it was cooler and pretty windy.

I think this was the first time I've seen an actual purple rose.

It was time to head to the train station and hitch a ride back to London. I decided to walk a different way than I came come, through an area with countryside homes. It felt very isolated; I don't think I saw a single person on the walk back.

 

I made it to the train station and it was deserted. I had to wait a bit for the train to show up. I kinda felt like I needed to pee and the station didn't have an open bathroom, so I was getting a little concerned. But the train obviously came and all was well. Whew.

Back in London, I stopped at a place called Pimlico Fresh that was on my way back to my AirBnB. I got a four cheese and chutney toastie and a flat white. It was kind of late in the day to drink a coffee, but I knew I'd be up later. The food was, indeed, fresh... and tasty!

I took a bit of a break and hung out in my room until about 5:00 pm. I got back on the Tube and headed to Covent Garden. I strolled around Apple Market and Covent Garden Market; there were so many people. It was beautifully decked out for the Jubilee.

Once again, I found myself needing to pee. Apple Market has lots of shops, restaurants, and food stalls -- and only one women's bathroom with about 5 toilets. I waited 10 minutes to get in and paid £1 to use the toilet. I do think London needs to work on providing more public toilets because this was kind of shameful. The amount of toilets available for how busy this place is, not only with food patrons but also shoppers. I don't mind paying to use it, but what if it was an emergency situation? The woman behind me had two little girls and she was afraid they were going to have an accident. I let them go ahead of me even though I honestly was worried I might have an accident too! I even considered going into the men's room (I've done it before!) because there wasn't any line. Sometimes now I will look up public toilets ahead of traveling in a certain area of London for this very reason.

Not sure if this was before or after the toilet debacle

I walked a bit more around Covent Garden, in areas I hadn't been before. I got some Thai milk bubble tea and wasted time before it was time to go to the Vaudeville Theatre where Six was playing. I walked up right as they were opening the doors. They let me bring my bubble tea in!

Six is a musical about Henry VIII's six wives. I definitely planned to go to the musical on this evening -- right after I had visited Anne Boleyn's childhood home. (Anne was one of the wives, in case you forgot.) It's a very modern twist on the story. It was really entertaining and I enjoyed it immensely. I thought it was awesome that there was an all-female band too. These performers are always so talented!

The HBO show "The Tudors" is what introduced me to Henry VIII and his six wives. I highly recommend it. I think it's on Netflix now.

On the walk to the Tube to head back to Pimlico, I realized I was near the Thames and so I took a slight detour to walk across a nearby bridge to see London lit up at night, which I suppose I haven't yet seen. I didn't get any good photos, but the image is in my mind's eye.

Honestly at this point, I was ready to come home! I'm always grateful and excited to be in England, but I overestimated the amount of days on this trip. Including travel days, this was 16 days. I think my sweet spot is 14 days. Now I know! I still had two full days to explore.