Alison Weir's Chivalry Tour 2023: Day Five

By Friday I think the group was a bit tired, so it was good that this day was entitled “Hever Day.” We got to just enjoy being at the castle. We had a wonderful tour just for our group of the castle itself, and then we also had a special tour by the head gardener. Both tours were very nice and quite interesting. They also had activities in the gardens, like a falconry display and archery, but I never even had time to get out there! All through the day the tour had a rolling program of talks, so you could come and go to what held your interest. I ended up going to a presentation by the historian Nicola Tallis, which was about the crown jewels. By itself, the subject may not have interested me, but she related it to the coronation, which was going to be happening that weekend. I found a lot of it fascinating because it explained a lot of the items that the king carries, and all of the jewels and the crown and what all of that signifies. So, it turned out to be a good choice. I also made time for the Hever Shop and Tearooms, where I had my first, and hopefully not my last, Bakewell tart. We had drinks that night before dinner in the Astor suite (the Astors at one time owned the castle) and then there was a murder mystery dinner, and people could dress in 1930s- Agatha Christie-era costumes. Some people had brought them, and it was the most fun time. They had actors come in and you had to decide who did it and everybody thoroughly enjoyed this.