Magnificent Tudor castles and stately homes to visit this year
The return of 'Wolf Hall' has sparked an uptick in visits to Britain's Tudor palaces

As the final part of Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" trilogy hits our TV screens, "I predict a sudden revival of the Tudor aesthetic", said historian Suzannah Lipscomb in The Telegraph.
The impressive architecture and interiors on show in the BBC's adaptation of "The Mirror and the Light" will no doubt "drip its way into our collective subconscious", and soon many of us will be "longing" to explore one of Britain's "gorgeous" Tudor mansions.
Indeed, the locations where the TV action was filmed have already seen a steep uptick in website traffic. "The Tudors, it seems, are still box-office gold," said Kevin Rushby in The Guardian.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Earlier this year, English Heritage revealed that there has been a "post-pandemic resurgence" in visits to historic sites, reported The Times — this renewed interest in the past no doubt spurred on by popular history podcasts like Radio 4's "You're Dead To Me" and Goalhanger's "The Rest is History". And it's the Tudors who are reliably among the "biggest draws": four of the nine properties that recorded their best-ever visitor numbers "boast of a connection to Henry VIII".
Eltham Palace in London, Henry VIII's boyhood home, saw its highest footfall in 2023, while there was a 19% rise in visitors to Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, the beautifully preserved former home of Henry's sixth wife, Catherine Parr.
Thornbury Castle, just outside Bristol, is the "only Tudor castle in England where you can stay the night" and is well worth visiting , said Lipscomb in The Telegraph. Guests may even get a chance to stay in the "very bedchamber" where Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn slept during their royal tour in 1535. The architecture is "magnificent": expect crossbow loopholes, gun ports and "the best original Tudor chimney stacks in the country".
Another "must for Tudor acolytes" is Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home. Located in the Kent countryside around an hour-and-a-half drive from London, it has landscaped grounds and a walled rose garden to explore, and a "wonderful collection of Tudor portraits" to marvel at in the wood-panelled Great Hall.
For Peter Kosminsky, series director of the "Wolf Hall" trilogy, Haddon Hall is the "perfect" place for a day out, said Rushby in The Guardian. Situated on the river Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire, the meticulously preserved 11th-century stately home remains "relatively unchanged since Henry visited, bringing a tapestry that still hangs in the banqueting hall".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.
-
June 7 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include reminders that we are all going to die, and Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the 'Big, Beautiful, Bill'
-
5 naturally disastrous editorial cartoons about FEMA
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on FEMA, the hurricane season, and the This is Fine meme
-
Amanda Feilding: the serious legacy of the 'Crackpot Countess'
In the Spotlight Nicknamed 'Lady Mindbender', eccentric aristocrat was a pioneer in the field of psychedelic research
-
10 great gifts to make yourself Pop-ular on Father's Day
The Week Recommends Make his day with a thoughtful present
-
6 captivating new US museum exhibitions to see this summer
The Week Recommends Get up close to Gustave Caillebotte and discover New Vision photography
-
5 horror movies to sweat out this summer
The Week Recommends A sequel, a reboot and a follow-up from the director of 'Barbarian' highlight the upcoming scary movie slate
-
5 electrifying books to read this June to spark your imagination
The Week Recommends A love story set in space, a pair of ambitious debuts and more
-
Fast-and-furious zombies, serial killer sharks and a matchmaking conundrum in June's new movies
the week recommends Danny Boyle is back with '28 Years Later' and Dakota Johnson has a Sophie's choice to make in 'Materialists'
-
'Less is more' in The Fifth Step
The Week Recommends Jack Lowden from Slow Horses is 'staggeringly good' in this new production at London's @sohoplace
-
Here comes the end of 'Squid Game'! Plus more great TV shows to see this June.
the week recommends The next great sports comedy, a young Marvel heroine and the conclusion of 'Squid Game'
-
The top period dramas to stream now
The Week Recommends Heaving bosoms and billowing shirts are standard fare in these historical TV classics