Hever Spring Sensation
Dazzling Daffodils and Becoming Anne
If you’re looking for a great day out for all the family this March then Hever Castle ticks all the boxes. The medieval moated castle, was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and its remarkable panelled rooms are famed for their tapestries, fine furniture and antiques. Be captivated by the beauty of the magnificent award-winning gardens, the romantic Italian and Rose Gardens, giant topiary chess set, yew maze and 38 acre lake amongst many of its features.
Becoming Anne: Connections, Culture, Court
Opening 500 years to the very day that Anne Boleyn made her first recorded appearance at the court of King Henry VIII, her childhood home, Hever Castle, will host the first of a series of exhibitions detailing the life and times of the ill-starred young woman who would become Queen of England, and the first of the infamous monarch’s wives to suffer a cruel fate.
The exhibition, which runs from 4th March to November 2022, will explore the factors that moulded Anne’s character and the rise of the Boleyn family. Visitors will also be able to discover more about her early years and what made her into the woman who caught Henry VIII’s eye on her return to England from France.
Through contemporary portraits and letters written at the time – on display throughout the Castle – the exhibition charts Anne’s story and concludes with her placement in the service of Queen Catherine, where visitors will be able to see a recreation of the momentous Château Vert pageant, at which Anne made her dazzling debut at the English court in 1522.
A number of specially loaned 18th – century miniatures will be on display, depicting other key players at the English court, including Anne’s uncle Thomas Howard, King Francis I of France and Marguerite of Angoulême. These three jewel-like paintings are rarely publicly exhibited as they are owned by a private collector.
Dazzling Daffodils
Visitors to Hever Castle during Dazzling Daffodils (14th – 20th March) will be able to take a tour with Head Gardener Neil Miller and Bulb Master Johnny Walkers and view nearly 60,000 daffodils in bloom.
The entertaining tour will share how daffodils came to the UK, explore the thousands of different varieties, and also enable visitors to get closer to this fascinating flower that has inspired some of our greatest poets, and also heralds the start of the gardening year. It is thought that many of the bulbs in Anne Boleyn’s Orchard are over a century old, and some have links to the first daffodils brought to these shores in the 17th century.
Dazzling Daffodils promises to showcase a wide and beautiful assortment of daffodil varieties across the Estate; in Anne Boleyn’s Orchard, on Sunday Walk, beside the Outer Moat, Woodland Walk and around Lake Walk.
Johnny and Neil will be doing tours from 14 – 18th March and the gardening team will continue the tours on the 19th and 20th March.
www.hevercastle.co.uk
