Spectacular Sudeley

Just before the weather broke we made a short trip to Broadway in Worcestershire.

It is a long time since I have been to the Cotswolds and not a lot has changed really.  We visited Sudeley Castle, pictured above, and much enjoyed the atmospheric and historic building, the gardens, and the  surrounding countryside.

The castle, which was seriously damaged during the Civil War (cannon ball holes can be seen in the masonry), is largely a Victorian construct, but none the worse for that.  In addition there are some romantic fifteenth century ruins that date from the time that the Castle belonged to Richard of York, later Richard lll.

Afficionados of Tudor history will know that the church is the final resting place of the last wife of Henry Vlll, Catherine Parr, who, of course, was clever enough to survive him.  She subsequently married Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England, who owned Sudeley but she died in childbirth about eighteen months into the marriage.

This is a sad story,  but the most poignant memory to my mind concerned unhappy Lady Jane Grey. A Protestant, she was named heir to the throne by Edward Vl on his deathbed, in preference to his Catholic sister, Mary.  Lady Jane spent a good deal of time at Sudeley, and was a mourner at Catherine Parr's funeral.  Within a few years she had been imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed for treason (which most acknowledge she never committed).  She was only 17.

It is her shade that seems to haunt the lovely gardens of the Castle.