Hever Castle & Doctor Who

Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day. It was supposed to rain all day, and it was raining when we left for Hever Castle. But by the time we got there, the sun had appeared, and it was warm and sunny all day. The castle itself was beautiful, as were the gardens around it. The gardens weren't there originally, the Astor family did them in the early 1900's when they owned the place.

We got off the train at a small town about 3 miles from the Castle (which is in the middle of the country) and took a taxi there because we thought it was going to rain. The taxi driver was quite friendly. We arrived just in time to see actors dressed up as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn come out and lead the castle visitors to a field where there were "games." More costumed characters demonstrated archery, a few different things on horseback, and exercising birds of prey. It was really cool to watch.

Then we went inside the castle itself, where they have all kinds of furniture, portraits, and various other things from various time periods ranging from the 14th to the 19th century (ish.) We went through what was supposedly Anne Boleyn's bedroom, although I'm not sure how they would know that. Same with a room where Henry VIII would have stayed when he visited. They also had two books of hours (prayer books) that were signed by Anne Boleyn herself, and an exhibit called "Losing Your Head Over Henry" which was about his six wives. It was very interesting. Honestly, I enjoyed the exterior of the castle more than the interior, because it had so many things from different time periods which made it difficult to picture what it would have actually looked like in just one of them. But the outside of the castle looks the same as it did when it was built. (Well, a bit older now obviously.)

After that we had lunch and wandered around the gardens, the hedge maze, the lake, and the water maze. It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun. I took a ton of pictures. Since it was so nice when we left, we decided to walk to the train station where we were originally going to stop, which was in the middle of nowhere and about a mile away from the castle. It was actually a great walk because we got to see the English countryside, and the weather was perfect. Later that evening a few of us went to a nearby pub called "The King's Head" for a drink. They have strawberry beer there, which is probably the only kind of beer I will ever actually like. :)

Yesterday I was exhausted, so I slept till noon. Then I went to see a Doctor Who Exhibition that had all kinds of costumes and props from the show. I think they had something from almost every episode. It was SO awesome. Mandy, be jealous. :) I took lots of pictures. Then a few of us went out to dinner and called it a night. I did book my trip to France for the end of June to go visit Jake, which I'm really excited about!!

In front of the castle.



















View of the castle as you come in.















I met the Face of Boe!



















Aaahhh!! It's a Dalek!



















The real TARDIS.