Hever Castle B&B

If Anne Boleyn could return to her childhood home, she would be astonished to find a ‘wonderful B&B for history lovers’, housed in a ‘Tudor village’ in landscaped parkland with Italian garden, Japanese tea house and 35-acre lake. Built for William Waldorf Astor in the early 1900s for the guest overflow from his fairy-tale moated castle, it ‘has been done exceptionally well’, says an inspector as it enters the main Guide. ‘Some bedrooms have elaborate plaster ceilings or beams, perhaps a four-poster.’ A twin was ‘delightful, with balloon-motif wallpaper and supremely comfy beds’. UHT milk was a minus, an umbrella a thoughtful plus. The Anne Boleyn wing is less grand than the Astor Wing, though the Edward VII suite has ‘superb castle views, an enormous bed as well as a sofa bed in the sitting area’. Breakfast, served till a rather early 9.30 in a ‘magnificent oak-panelled dining room’, included an excellent buffet, ‘superb avocado and poached egg on sourdough. I felt like bluff King Hal when I’d finished.’ Overnighters not only have use of lounge and billiard room, but the huge bonus of ‘out-of-hours access to the gorgeous grounds’.