I long ago came to terms with the fact that I'm a geek, unashamedly so and my particular geek-jam is Tudor History! I think it's because when I was little my mum would tell me stories about history, but she was the original horrible histories, so she told me all the gory bits and I loved it! My favourite was Henry 8th and his 6th wives, so the final stop on our T.I.T.S tour was a place where Henry had stayed with Anne Boleyn (and possibly Jane Seymour, but don't get me started on her!) Thornbury Castle.
My pictures don't do this beautiful place justice - sorry!
Thornbury Castle was originally built by Edward Stafford, who was the only man to rival Henry 8th's wealth and status at the time. The castle was a real, willy waving contest, a "my castle is bigger than yours, so kiss my ass" type building.
Henry wasn't having it, so he played his, "I'm King, and I'm getting you done for treason" card, which was quite hard to argue with.
Edward Stafford met his fate on Tower Hill and Henry took over the castle staying there numerous times with Anne Boleyn. When he died it passed to his children (the ones he admitted to)
Nowadays it's a beautiful hotel where you can stay in traditionally decorated bedrooms, which make the most of their castle surroundings. You can even stay in the room that Henry would stay with Anne. There's also the Catherine of Aragon Tower Suite and the Jane Seymour Suite.
All the rooms are beautifully decorated. We were Brecknock and it was lovely. The beds are really high, which made my sister laugh as I tried to climb on and off it like I was a toddler climbing on the sofa! The beds were incredibly comfy. There was also a lovely touch of a free bottle of Sloe Gin, which of course we sampled.
In the afternoon, we went for drinks in the library, it had a really relaxed vibe and there were log fires blazing away. There was a really good selection of gins, Tudor themed cocktails, wines, spirits and soft drinks. If you wanted to you could play board games or just sit and read. There were people having afternoon tea, which we didn't have, but it looked lovely and they seemed to enjoy it.
In the evening we ate in the hotel and there were two options, a six course tasting menu or a 2 / 3 course a la carte menu. We both went for the 3 course a la carte, there were meat, fish and veggie options, so all bases were covered. For my main course I chose the braised shin beef and it was the best beef I've ever eaten.
I really enjoyed my stay at Thornbury Castle mainly because there were pictures of Henry 8th everywhere and I love the fact that I've stayed somewhere he has, it was very special for me to be able to do that.
I would recommend a visit, they do lots of different events during the spring / summer months, including having dinner with a Tudor, outdoor cinema, and murder mystery evenings and you can find out more on their events page. They also host weddings and I think it would be a beautiful place to get married.
I loved every single second of the T.I.T.S Mystery trip and together me and my sister Lucy created many happy memories. You really can't beat a road trip!
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