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Published: September 21st 2017
D Day minus 15 Every day brings us closer to departure day. With each day that passes the butterflies turn to elephants in my stomach as I realise I have much to do and I feel I won’t get them done before we leave the UK for the last holiday of the year. The heating is coming on in the morning showing us that Autumn has well and truly arrived. Strangely this holiday is less organised than normal. Yes I have been for some feet pampering, I have had my hair cut in readiness to go on holiday but I feel that much has been neglected . I swear we were more organised the first year we went away in Suzy than we are today.
14 days and work , 13 days the Duvalays are washed, ironed and put away, 12 days we sleep easy. What gets done is done. What gets left will get left . The last few days count down slowly 11 days and I work , 10 days I swim and finally the night before we leave arrives . Tomorrow we leave our shores .
Before we set off I head off for my last
swim for a few weeks . I will be stiff as a crutch when I return. We do the Suzy Shuffle . I park my car on the road . Glenn moves his and we gingerly move Suzy off the parking spot into the road. It all goes well and we hit the road. The sun is not shining. In fact it is grey with huge clouds looming in the grey leaden sky. Through Derbyshire we travel down the M1 . For a Friday it is fairly quiet and free moving. Into Nottinghamshire and over the Trent . The roadworks turning the M1 into a managed motorway are completed and for once we travel at a reasonable speed . Suzy eats up the miles. The leaves on the roadside have taken on their Autumn colours of reds, plums, rich browns and golden yellows. By the time we reach Buckinghamshire we hit the roadworks again.It is this part of the motorways turn to be turned into a managed section so cones line the roadside . Breakfast was a bacon sandwich and two slices of toast buttered with the minutest quantity of butter at Watford Gap services. Washed down with two Americanos
we felt refreshed , woken up and ready for the drive to Hever Castle . Home to Ann Boleyn second wife to Henry VIII the king who reshaped our country forever when he divorced Catherine of Aragon, defied the Pope and set himself up as Protector of the new faith in England.
The drive to Hever was not without incident . Our road was barred by a bus which had blocked the road . We found ourselves driving down narrow lanes through tiny villages until eventually we arrived at the castle . Plenty of car parking and we parked Suzy up easily on the overflow car park. We walked over the house brandishing our 2 for 1 ticket and proof that we were travelling on the train to France tomorrow . The young girl on the desk welcomed us and took the ticket from us. She was not interested in the ticket for the tunnel and seemed not to know what to do with our 2 for 1 ticket . In the end she issued us with one ticket at £16.95. I queried that – have you got that wrong I asked ? £16.95 for one person . It
felt overpriced . Glenn nudged me – it was right. Had we paid full price it would have been over £32 . Far too expensive for a trip round a house and a garden I thought .
We walked down across the pristine lawns. Myriads of gardeners were out cutting the grass and clipping it to the style of a bowling green or cricket pitch. We passed the military museum with two tanks outside . Perfect for a sheep to pose up against. Sion enjoyed climbing on them ignoring the Don’t climb message on them.
We could see the house . Think perfect English castle . Think four square walls with towers on all four sides . Think covered with Virginia Creeper just turning Autumnal crimson and you are part way there. Think Drawbridge and portcullis . Think medieval courtyard . This is Hever . It sits in a pretty landscape not Capability Brown’d in any way shape or form. The lawns were filled with topiary hedges and a double moat surrounded what looked like the perfect example of a medieval castle complete with arrow slits.
Our first stop lunch – broccoli and potato soup eaten in
the shadow of the castle . We looked at the wonderful additions by the Astor family . A complete medieval village around the castle – all buttercream and oak . If you can afford it you can have a wedding here or a special meal or a conference or even stay 5* bed and breakfast . It was all picture perfect.
The house itself was entered over the drawbridge where we were asked to walk one way past the mellow stone courtyard and mullioned windows. We were greeted by a guy dressed in Tudor finery and he possessed the most enormous of codpieces. He told us to go to the right and follow the signs. The house is small and the corridors and stairs narrow so a one way system applies . We entered the first room and our jaws dropped . The ceiling was covered in white plastered Tudor roses, the walls covered with portraits of Ann , her family and Henry . One entire wall was given over to an oak minstrel gallery. The sculpture was magnificent – carved in 1905 for the Astors who redesigned the house keeping its character as best they could. Into the
dining room with large oak table and more Edwardian carved oak finery. To be fair each room showed the love and care the Astors paid to the property. Picturesque it all was – up 13 stairs to the bedrooms. Unlucky for the lovely Ann. Along the Long Gallery filled with oak cupboards and chairs . A chapel hidden away – for worship behind the oak panelling. A Jacobean room full of mementoes of the Jacobite cause . A room full of the instruments of torture . Instruments to burn you , to break your fingers and toes, cat of nine tails and flails , a brazier to heat the knives that would cut you or gouge out your ears, cut your ears off or pull your tongue out. Porcelain and stump work . It was all there . Even the wonderful tasteful rooms of the servants with their in built cupboards, tidy floral bedspreads and wonderful views.
Outside was a maze . Half an hour to get round. An Italian garden , fountains and herb gardens . A tudor chess set – the castle looked like a castle , the pawns looked like pawns but the rest had lost their shapes .
Was it worth the money? Well I would not have paid the full price but at half price yes it was . So what next ? We had to get to Stop 24 to pick up the Italian via card and telepass for the motorways. It took us more than a hour to weave in and out of Kent and in and out of Sussex . Eventually we arrived pick the pass up off a less than happy man and travelled the last few miles to Black House Campsite our stop for the night .
The end to the day went well. The site was easy to find, the staff smiling and happy, the plot ideal. Across the road a shop for provisions and a pub. What more could you ask for on the day before you leave for Europe and a month away. A good nights sleep perhaps . Did we get it ? Not really – a combination of rain on the roof, butterflies and a guy in VW next door arriving late and sliding his door open and shut for what seemed like hours . As I lay listening to him the thoughts for the day came back to me – “ If you let go a little you will have a little peace” Let’s ignore him then. “If you let go a lot then you have a lot of peace”. OK I can get that . “If you completely let go you will have complete peace “ Easier said than done but I tried my best . Tomorrow is another day .
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
And you are off!!!
I've been awaiting this day almost as much as you!