News about William Waldorf Astor

Ciar Byrne, a UK garden specialist, was amazed to see a huge variety of peat options on display at the recent Garden Press Show in London. Peat bogs take many millenia to grow, and they are a significant carbon sink, so it is imperative that we avoid plundering them.

Anne Boleyn's bedroom (pictured below right) in Hever Castle, Kent, should look as it did when she was a young lady during her courtship with King Henry VIII. They'll have to take out built-in wardrobes installed by the company's new owners, the extremely wealthy American Astor family of the 1970s, in order to do so. Because it is a Grade-I listed building, the new owners will have to apply for planning permission. Anne Boleyn (inset above), whose marriage to Henry VIII resulted in the establishment of the Church of England, spent a large part of her childhood in the 13th century castle, which was owned by her family from 1461 to 1539.