Hever Castle and Gardens, Hever

We visited on the spur of the moment and followed directions from the M25 - managed to get there without map or sat nav, which was a great start. Very impressed from the start - obvisouly busy as a weekend day in the school summer holidays, but helpful and efficient staff int he car park, which we were pleased to find was not miles away. So much stuff to see and do - we took a rowing boat on the river (an extra £10 an hour) which were happy to let us take out a toddler and a 9 month old and had appropriate life jackets and a place to look after the pushchair. When back on dry land we watched a jousting tournament which was great fun, we saw dancing ladies, walked around the yew maze (the three year old loved it!) and had a fantastic luxury cream tea including tiny sandwiches and little cakes (you can also have champagne with it!). If we went again we would definately take a picnic, and plan to spend the entire day there, rather than just an afternoon. Probably best for slightly older kids (maybe 8 - 14) as they have a fantastic water maze, an adventure playground, and lots of places to run around.

I didn't think that Hever Castle would be a good place to take young children (my kids are 4 and 1) but they really enjoyed it. It is famous around the world for being the childhood home of Henry VIII's 2nd wife, Anne Boleyn, but it also has lots more to offer, especially for children, including an adventure playground and a maze. There are also regular jousting tournaments which children love to watch. There are also a number of places to eat which are suitable for children with high chairs and food warming facilities. My son's favourite part of castle though was the moat which surrounds it, he loved looking for fish in it.

Fantastic for all the family catering for the very young to those that need a little more adventure. Pick a sunny day though as most of it is outside. There are good catering facilities offering small plain sandwiches for the very small diners and traditional food such as nuggets and chips for older ones. Highchairs, pushchair access and baby change complete the restaurant for the young family. Fun can be had in the beautiful grounds with its famous maze and fascinating events bringing to life history before your eyes. You will also find a brass band in the court yard, which is great for a baby jig.

We have been to Hever Castle twice, the first time being on a primary school visit when I helped out as parent. Hever Castle is as good a day out with 10 year old’s as it is with teenagers. The gardens are magnificent with a massive lake which takes an hour to walk around but we were glad we did so because the children took some great photos. They also enjoyed the water maze and had a wonderful time splashing each other but luckily it was a warm day so they soon dried off. Hever Castle itself is very interesting and my typical teenagers liked the torture and gory stuff the best! We were particularly interested to look at the restored furniture to see if any of it was from the days of the Astor’s. My children’s grandfather worked for the Astor’s and restored much of the upholstery and furniture. We found one bedroom which their grandfather had obviously worked on to their delight. We would definitely like to come back again when there is a jousting event to watch. This is a delightful castle with plenty to do for all age children especially in the warm weather. The castle and its staff are very child friendly and everything there is in amazing condition. A great place to visit for all the family.

You wouldn't necessarilly think of this location as a child friendly day out but we took my then 2 and 3 year old daughters plus a teenager there last year in the Summer and had a great day. There is the formal part of the visit, looking around the actual Castle, which was interesting albeit a little bit stressfull with the little ones but after that, we had a lovely picnic in what is obviously a very popular spot by the Castle lake with the ducks joining us which the children loved. There is a great maze which was lots of fun and they even have an area where you can be dressed in all kinds of authentic finery! The Castle holds all kinds of events throughout the year so it is worth checking out the website. I was sceptical about this as a day trip suitable for young children but if you pick a nice Summer's day, you are bound to be surprised by what is on offer just as I was.