On the trail of the Tudors.

We have visited some wonderful places in our search for Tudor history:

All have delighted us in some way. They are ranked in my order of preference below:

Wonderful warm Hever Castle, with the hidden minstrel playing in the gallery, and the magnificent courtyard where it is possible to look from the same window that Anne Boleyn might once looked through and seen Henry VIII arriving on his horse and being greeted by her father in the courtyard below.

Hampton Court with the actors who took the parts of the Seymours and Katherine Parr and enacted a clever play as they led us through some of the rooms; or where a guide called Grant touched our shoulders and told us of the tapestries before our eyes as the stained glass windows revived their colours with rich blues and purples.

Hatfield House where a guide patiently explained perhaps for the umpteen time the symbolism in the painting of Elizabeth I and where the light was exquisite in room full of armour and paintings of prime ministers.

Grimscote Castle where there were thrones and a room where Margaret Thatcher had once dined; but best of all tame deer and a wonderful woman who could call them to her and who enjoyed telling us about them.

Burghley House where the water features outside were more fun than the rooms depicting Heaven and Hell.

The Tower of London, a nightmare of crowds, where we accidentally stopped to eat sandwiches yards from where the block was once sited for the beheading of queens.

And finally Sudeley Castle which perhaps because it was so cold was the most disappointing of all with so few rooms open and an ‘exhibition’ in the few rooms that were that even tried to simulate a desert! Though even here we found Katherine Parr’s grave to photograph despite the distraction of very, very, very, ugly modern art in the grounds surrounding the chapel in which she is buried.

A big thank you to all the guides we met this year at these venues who made our visit so welcoming and memorable.