Hever's Hideaways

If you’ve always dreamed of visiting Anne Boleyn’s childhood home, then why not combine it with a stay in the castle, which will give you unique access to the grounds out of hours

- Sally Coffey

There is something about Hever that is simply magical. Perhaps it is the double moat, or the way it seems not to have aged a day since its Tudor prime. And while the exterior is undeniably romantic, inside it just gets better and better.

Many visitors to Hever are disappointed when they learn that the impeccable Tudor interiors are not actually original but the work of William Waldorf Astor, who bought Hever in the early 20th century and set about restoring it to the medieval show home that it is today.

They’re wrong to be disappointed: Hever is a pristine example of a Tudor interior, which has been sensitively done, bringing back all the grandeur that would have existed during the time that Anne Boleyn and her family lived here.

Originally built as a defensive castle around 1270 (the 13th-century gatehouse is still here), and having evolved into a splendid manor house in the 15th century, by the time Astor bought Hever in 1903 it was in a poor state of repair.

Astor, who was worth about £100m, spent £10m of his fortune restoring Hever over a period of five years, enlisting the skill and labour of some 750 craftsmen and adding the show-stopping gardens and lake. Astor, like many Edwardians, was enthralled by the Tudor period and sourced authentic pieces of furniture and artworks from across Europe to realise his dream of creating a Tudor village.

The result is impeccable. In the Inner Hall, which would have been the Great Kitchen in Tudor times (and where reportedly tenant farmers allowed their livestock to roam in the Victorian era), an intricate wood-carved gallery, inspired by the rood screen in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, dazzles.