Hever and Hatfield - My Tour of Historic Houses Continues

Here are few photos from two very historic houses that I visited during my last weeks in England. First up was Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn (as you are constantly reminded at every single point of interest in the house). I had a fabulous time here – the grounds and gardens were breathtaking and the house itself (which was meticulously restored to its sixteenth century grandeur in the early twentieth century by America’s wealthy Astor family) had an amazing collection of early modern furnishing, decorative items, etc. Next I visited Hatfield House, the childhood home of my other history hero, Elizabeth I. I’ve toured Hatfield before (it’s sort of like a pilgrimage for me) and it was almost exactly as I remembered it. The house itself is Jacobean (all that remains of the Tudor Old Palace are some stables and a great hall) but it is lavishly gorgeous and home to many famous portraits of Elizabeth I and her successor James I and his wife, Anna of Denmark (who, incidentally, was the subject of my MA dissertation). So it was a grand couple of days!



















In other news I recently read a little feature in Vanity Fair about a new swimwear company called Pret-a-Surf and I am totally crushing on their sweet designs and feminist design sensibility (although I don’t really understand why a company that designs for athletically built surfers doesn’t use those frames in its ad campaign).