home of Anne Boleyn, is where Henry VIII first saw the bewitching Anne. They married in 1533 and she was subsequently executed in May 1536. Anne was, of course, the mother of Elizabeth I. Hever, and its spectacular Italianate gardens, famed for its glorious roses, is open to the public and home to regular events and Tudor exhibitions. You can feast your eyes upon Anne’s gowns, her embroidery, her Bible – and even the bedroom where Henry slept. Alongside the castle is the parish church of St Peter,
where Anne Boleyn’s father Sir Thomas Boleyn is buried. Immediately opposite is the inn bearing Henry’s name. Despite its excellent reputation locally for good food, the Henry VIII Inn achieved notoriety in 1983 as the place where the infamous Brinks Mat bullion robbery was planned. Even the nearby pond was dragged by local police in their hunt for the proceeds. Wherever you roam in Kent, you will find quintessential
English villages – another is Penshurst. Lying between two rivers, it has an ancestral home that has stood for over 600 years. Penshurst Place, a medieval masterpiece has, since 1552, been the seat of the Sidney family including
Sir Philip Sidney, Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier. Elizabeth I was a frequent visitor. Today, his namesake, Philip Sidney, Viscount De L’Isle, continues the guardian- ship of his magnificent home and gardens. The estate also boasts a famous deer park and nature trail. At Quaintways Tea Rooms on Penshurst’s high street,
you can enjoy a delicious cream tea before a short drive through meandering lanes brings you to Chiddingstone. This tiny, one-street village remains so unspoiled that its 16th- and 17th-century houses are frequently used as film and television locations. One house is rumoured to have been home to Catherine Parr, before she became wife number six to Henry VIII. The Castle Inn has been an inn since 1730 – when it was called the Five Bells – and Sunday lunch here is an institution, the locals say. They welcome you into the bar, insisting you go to find the large sand- stone Chiding Stone, behind the village school. They will tell you it was here that women were brought to be reprimanded for gossiping or causing a nuisance. But Kent has more to offer than just pretty villages. Squerryes Court, a 17th-century manor house has been
Clockwise from top
left: Kent’s green and pleasant land: the village of Postling; medieval houses overlook Leicester Square in Penshurst; moated Hever Castle, once the home of Anne Boleyn; the Pantiles Shopping Arcade in Tunbridge Wells; oast houses peek out from the countryside
BRITAIN 87
PHOTOS: ALEX HARE/ALAMY, DAVID TOMLINSON, JON ARNOLD IMAGES/ISTOCK
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