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Kent's grandest gardens loaded with history, personality

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Castles, country estates and their elaborate gardens draw millions of people to England every year for a peek behind the brocade curtain into the lives of the rich, royal and powerful of other eras.

Indulging in a little "to the manor born" fantasy while strolling through lavishly decorated rooms and formal gardens is a pleasant diversion from our own, somewhat smaller, castles.

And even if you're not a history buff, it can be educational. Visitors to stately homes often pick up historical tidbits -- details of the area, the times and the folks who inhabited such grand spaces.

If tours are offered, I advise taking one as well-informed guides usually dish a few fun gossipy tidbits about badly behaved lords and ladies, and their sometimes scandalous activities.

Once off limits to ordinary folk, hundreds of grand estates are now either owned outright by the National Trust or still in private hands but open to the public for a fee. After all, upkeep on even a modest little castle is pricy these days -- just replacing a roof can cost millions.

And while we sometimes think of castles as frozen in time, most have undergone many incarnations during their long histories, but may showcase a particularly notable period.

I recently visited two very different properties in Kent -- Hever Castle and Gardens, and Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Both have interesting stories to tell, and both are less than 50 km from London, making them ideal for a green, serene day trip away from the city.

HEVER CASTLE AND GARDENS

The story of Hever Castle has it all -- power, intrigue, romance, betrayal and renewal.

The 13th-century, double-moated castle has had 37 owners from 13 different families. These included the powerful, well connected Boleyn family, whose daughter Anne became Henry VIII's second wife and was later executed for adultery, incest and high treason.

While Anne's tragic story ended in 1536 at the Tower of London, Hever's story went on, but over the centuries the estate fell into decline.

In 1903, the derelict castle was rescued from ruin by one of America's most powerful men -- William Waldorf Astor. The multimillionaire restored the castle, built new wings, and created one of the most spectacular gardens in all of England.

Today it's a major tourist attraction owned by Broadland Properties and open to the public, who can also book accommodation on site.

Among the highlights of the 51-hectare grounds: The Italian Garden, built to showcase Astor's collection of Greek and Roman statues; a Pergola Walk with grottoes; three puzzle mazes (English Yew Maze, Water Maze and Tower Maze); a giant topiary chess set; an English Rose Garden; Anne Boleyn's Walk; a Tudor Garden; a Rhododendron Walk; and the elegant Loggia, overlooking Astor's 15.5-hectare man-made lake.

The castle interior has displays and artifacts related to Anne's early years, such as her illuminated prayer books, and her ill-fated relationship -- four years from courtship to marriage to execution -- with Henry VIII.

There is a good collection of Tudor portraits, among them paintings of Henry and all of his six wives with descriptions of their fates. (Ironically, Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was given Hever Castle in her divorce settlement.)

But most poignant are copies of letters an imprisoned Anne Boleyn wrote from the Tower of London shortly before her beheading on the Tower green. In the correspondence, the doomed 36-year-old seems to accept her fate but begs for mercy for the innocent men -- one of them her own brother -- accused of having sex with a queen.

SISSINGHURST CASTLE GARDEN

Many of England's finest country estates have grand manors and park-like gardens but Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Cranbrook is different.

Sissinghurst has a long and complicated past featuring many owners and uses. It has been a working farm, a prisoner of war camp, a workhouse for the poor, and now one of the National Trust's most popular visitor attractions.

It doesn't look like a castle, because it isn't one. Instead, Sissinghurst was a large Saxon pig farm with buildings erected in different eras -- barns, homes, cottages, workers quarters, Tudor buildings and an Elizabethan tower with two octagonal turrets. There was once a moated manor house but it fell into ruins long ago.

Some 3,000 French sailors -- captured during the Seven Years War (1756-63) -- were once imprisoned there. Conditions were reportedly horrible, and the inmates sarcastically dubbed their prison "le chateaux," which some speculate evolved into "castle" and stuck.

In 1796, the estate was leased out to local authorities for use as a workhouse for the able-bodied poor, who laboured on the farm for their keep.

But by 1930, Sissinghurst was pretty much derelict.

Enter poet-novelist Vita Sackville-West and her husband, diplomat, politician and writer Sir Harold Nicolson, who bought the rundown property for a song -- about $25,000.

The couple -- hands down Sissinghurst's most interesting owners -- set about transforming the vast estate -- some 194 hectares -- into a series of interconnected gardens -- cottage garden, vegetable garden, herb garden, formal garden, white garden -- and other outdoor garden rooms.

Much of the garden was designed by Sackville-West, whose early life echoes a Downtown Abbey story line. Vita grew up nearby at Knole -- one of Britain's largest houses. As the only child of the 3rd Lord Sackville, she would have inherited Knole -- had she only been a boy. Instead, the property was inherited by a male cousin. (Today, Knole is also run by the National Trust.)

For their part, Sackville-West and Nicolson had two sons and -- on the surface at least -- appeared to be pillars of the establishment. But behind the scenes, their lives were unconventional -- and quite scandalous for the times -- with both of them having same-sex relationships outside of their "open" marriage.

Sackville-West even "eloped" to France with one of her long-term lovers, and also had an affair with fellow writer Virginia Woolf.

Still, Sackville-West was devoted to Sissinghurst, which she opened to the public. She made a studio in the Elizabethan Tower and did most of her writing there. After she died, her family donated the property to the National Trust.

Today, visitors can climb the tower's 78 steps for a sweeping view of the countryside. There is also some overnight accommodation on the property, which can be booked through National Trust Cottages.

NEED TO KNOW

ENGLAND

-- For information on travelling in England, see visitbritain.com.

-- To mark the 300th anniversary of Capability Brown -- England's most famous landscape architect -- Visit Britain has declared 2016 the Year of the English Garden. Visitors will find links to special garden content on the VB website.

GARDEN GLORY

-- Admission to Hever Castle and Gardens is about $28 per adult (about $23 for a garden-only visit). Tickets for kids 5-15 are about $15. Under 5 get in free and there are senior, student and family discounts. Children under 15 must visit with an adult. Many special events also take place at Hever, and depending when you visit, look for the deep red Hever Rose. See hevercastle.co.uk.

-- Sissinghurst Castle Garden admission is about $20 for adults, about $10 for children, and $30 per family. See nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle-garden.

-- Kent is reachable by train from London but another option -- especially for two or more people -- is to book a car and driver for the day. I booked with Chirton Grange, which specializes in luxury bespoke service and tours, and has knowledgeable drivers. See www.chirtongrange.co.uk.

SLEEPOVERS

-- London's storied Athenaeum Hotel at 116 Picadilly has a great Mayfair location steps from Green Park, the tube, shops, restaurants and more.

Since opening its doors as a private mansion in 1850, the Athenaeum has been a gentlemen's club, an apartment building, and eventually a hotel and residence frequented by celebrities, including Elizabeth Taylor, Russell Crowe, and director Steven Spielberg, who installed an editing suite in his residence while he was working on E.T., Close Encounters and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Family run since the 1990s, the hotel is undergoing a renaissance. A recent multimillion dollar renovation has added a new restaurant -- Galvin at the Athenaeum -- overseen by two of London's hottest restaurateurs -- Michelin-starred brother-chefs Chris and Jeff Galvin.

The Galvins created new menus for the Athenaeum's restaurant, in-room dining and afternoon tea. These feature fresh takes on British classics using homegrown ingredients.

The Bar is known for its craft cocktails and whisky collection. See athenaeumhotel.com.

rrobinson@postmedia.com

@RobinSUNroams

 

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