Hever Castle
Tricia, Ross and I headed off for a daytrip to Hever Castle and the surrounds. Hever itself is one and a half miles from the train station, and then the castle is maybe another half mile, or mile. As there isn't a bus you get to walk it all, quite pleasant in the sunshine, but our return trip was a little wetter...
The castle itself is well renovated. It was bought by a American millionaire in 1906, and he spent quite a sum fixing up what was quite run-down. Not wanting to spoil the visual impact with expansions, he constructed a small Tudor "village" behind the castle, and expanded the grounds in front and on both sides. The result really has paid. It looks top condition, but is not tacky.
Inside was a surprising amount of Tudor rooms and displays, Tricia had a good long drool in the "Long hall", which had dummies wearing court clothing. Apart from well-appointed rooms, and rooms which seemed to define "dated decor", there was a good collection of torture devices, and militaria from the families members serving in the world wars. No photos allowed inside the castle, but a great experience. It is more a manor house than a fortress, but so many fortresses are in poor condition that this made a welcome change.
There were re-enactors doing an archery demo on the day we went (they had jousting the day before), so that helped to add to the atmosphere. The first few Ross and I saw (Tricia was still in the Tudor hall) were doing some period music by the entrance/exit to the castle. The music wasn't bad, and I may have even recognised a couple of tunes. Then we noticed a guy on a horse, wearing a gambeson and longbow, who was getting people to congregate on the lawn. The main display consisted of various shooting scenarios - shooting the French, shooting targets, quick shooting etc. with some additional melee combats. They seemed like a fairly typical bunch of live-steel re-enactors, and unfortunately most of my photos of them didn't turn out so well. I needed a better position, but the crowds limited that, and I may have to buy that 300mm lens. The photo ops here really showed that my 80mm zoom doesn't quite cut it for details at a distance.
Facilities are reasonable for England, two restaurants, a couple of sandwich bars, a garden shop, plus the requisite gift shops (amazing that the same stuff gets recycled in every shop). The only real problem is there didn't seem much shelter if it rained hard, and when it did we escaped to a restaurant for coffee and cakes. Prices for food were a little steep, typically. But the bookshop had a number of very reasonably priced books on a seemingly random range of topics.
After the rain stopped we had a wander around the Italian gardens, it was all very pleasant, but there wasn't very many places if you just wanted to sit and enjoy it. I suppose you are only meant to sit in the "park" area.
Altogether a fine day out, recommended.
