Hever Festival returns this year with a stunning array of 40 shows across the summer

Set across three spectacular locations in the award-winning gardens of Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Hever Festival brings a varied programme including opera, plays, films, live music, speakers, comedy, family favourites and the best tribute artists.

In the Loggia, the tranquil Italian Garden with the lake views hosts Illyria’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while Anne Boleyn’s Woodland Walk is the perfect setting to enjoy family shows including David Walliams’s Awful Auntie, The Crow House and a retro caravan with a mind of its own in The Wagon of Dreams. At the Two Sisters Theatre (the original heart of the festival) the outdoor seating is tiered and under cover, or you can choose to sit where you like on the lawn and enjoy the vista from your own chairs or blanket, in the sunshine or under the stars.

It is 500 years since Anne Boleyn’s first appearance in English court and the festival is celebrating with the critically acclaimed play Anne Boleyn by Howard Brenton, which sold out when first performed here in 2016, while Hever Castle historian Dr Owen Emerson and Kate McCaffrey discuss their new book Becoming Anne, charting her formative years.

Musical tribute nights sparkle across the programme, including Take That, Sinatra, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel and Just Floyd. Musical highlights include Grammy-nominated Stacey Kent, The Music of James Bond introduced by former Bond girl Madeleine Smith and The 4 D’s singing West End favourites.

Award-winning comedy broadcaster Jon Holmes will be performing his BBC Radio 4 hit The Skewer, while Nathan Caton will be headlining an evening of Comedy at the Castle with Grinstock Comedy Club. You can also become Jessica Fletcher for the evening in Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote.

Festival favourites Charles Court Opera with Mikado, Ronnie Scott’s All Stars and The Last Night of the Hever Proms complete the programme.

INFO: heverfestival.co.uk

INSTA: @heverfestival