Our first day in London and we are off on the train to go out to Hever Castle. They are having an exhibit of paintings attributed to Anne Boleyn and a craft fair so I think it will be a great day. The train out is right by our hotel which is right by the Tower and Tower Bridge. So we stopped for a few photos on our way to the train.

Hever is just 30 miles outside of London so only a 45 minute train ride. Once you arrive you follow the signs or the people that got off the train before you about a mile through the fields to Hever.

Hever was the Boleyn family home and it was built around 1462. Anne grew up here and was courted by Henry while she was living in the castle.

If it looks familiar it was my first stop on an Alison Weir Tour back in 2017. The Astor’s bought in 1903 and added a Tudor village style hotel back behind the castle and we stayed there on that first trip. This time was just a short visit.

We did the castle and exhibit first. The exhibit was a collection of paintings attributed to Anne but either done after her lifetime or originally thought to be someone else. The portraits have never all been together to compare. The only portrait known to been during her lifetime is the Hoppi Medal and it has degraded through the years so I don’t think it is a good representation of her. At least I hope not that nose is quite large.

Other portraits were done during Elizabeth’s reign to try and rehabilitate her mother. These are all quite good but no one has found what they were basing the likeness on. They say that painting patterns were distributed to encourage painters to paint Anne so they all closely resemble one another but that could be because they are based on the same pattern and not a contemporary painting of Anne.

There is some that say Henry and Jane removed all references to Anne once they were married but others that say that was just how it always went. The new came in and everything was replaced and reused. So it might not have been out of spite or hate as we have been led to believe for years.

Anyway here are the paintings and you can decide which is best and which one you think represents Anne the best. actually I think I missed a few but here are the ones I liked.

The rest of Hever is also amazing so if you are in London it is an easy day trip.

There are also some other Anne items on display.

There were some other paintings of note pinging the great hall.

From the castle we went down through the craft fair. I found some nice things. Nothing I needed but I am glad I bought them. I got a great silver poppie ring and some Henry and wives paper dolls. I also bought a summer linen hat just like the rain one I have been wearing on the trip. I think it will work for my next vacation.

We stopped to have a break. I had a scone and beer, Val had a Coke and short bread. Revitalized we walked through the gardens before heading back to the train station.

The train was a little late but otherwise uneventful. We spoke to some young girls on holiday and another over for the weekend from Ireland. She got tickets to the tapestry and not Elizabeth’s dresses and I was the other way around. Each jealous of what the other was seeing.

We made it back to the hotel and had fish and chips on the lawn out front. It was a lovely night and I thoroughly enjoyed the view.