School Trips

A visit to Hever Castle & Gardens offers informative educational school trips for UK and overseas groups and provides a stimulating opportunity for learning outside the classroom. School and student groups must book their visits in advance. Our Group Visits Coordinator will be happy to talk through the best type of visit to suit your class learning objectives.

Teachers can choose to book a private guided tour of the Castle, a free-flow visit where you can lead your class around the Castle and Gardens at your own pace, or include a workshop or pre-booked interactive audio guide for children.

School Trips

Below you will find details of the different visits you can enjoy with your school, the prices, the benefits of booking an educational trip, and things to do, before during and after your visit.

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Hever Castle & Gardens
Hever, Edenbridge
Kent, TN8 7NG

School Trip Prices 2024

Be guided through the rooms of the Castle, discover more about their contents and learn about the restoration of the Castle. Interactive audio guides are available in English, French, German, Dutch, Russian and Chinese.
PackageSelf-guided with WorksheetsSelf-guided with WWI or WW2 HaversacksCastle Private Guided TourTime Travellers & Tudors WorkshopRomans Tour & Workshop
Child (5-15)£6.15£6.15£7.95£9.10£9.10
Student (16-19)£12.05£12.05£17.20N/AN/A
Chargeable Adult£15.45£15.45£15.45£15.45£15.45
School Add-onsPrices
Tudor or Medieval Workshop (45 mins)£1.85 per child
Birds of Prey Demo & Talk£150.00 / £200.00. See details below.

Please note that a minimum of 15 people is required for each group visit and tour.
All packages include access to the Castle & Gardens.

Birds of Prey Demo & Talk

From February to September you will be able to add on a falconry experience to a self-guided visit or private guided tour.

Option one £150.00

  • 15 – 30 children (children will be split into two groups with a maximum of 15 per group)
  • 30 minutes per group
  • 12:00 – 13:00
  • Flying demonstration and talk

Option two £200.00

  • 30 – 100 children
  • One hour with whole group
  • 12:00 – 13:00
  • Flying demonstration and talk

Please note, if the weather is too hot the birds of prey will be unable to fly so only the talk will take place.

(Minimum 15 paying children. Not available in school or bank holidays. This experience will take place in the jousting field.)

Free-flow with Worksheets

Choose from a range of worksheets as you go around the Castle, exploring numbers within the building, patterns, shapes, faces, feelings and historical clothing. Find out how information is hidden around every corner and what we can learn about people from the past just by looking at them and the structures they left behind.

Entry to the Castle & Gardens is included.

School groups must be pre-booked, and free flow access to the Castle is from 12:00pm. Visitors are divided into groups of no more than 25.

Free-flow with WWI or WW2 Haversacks

The Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry Military Museum is a great place for a school visit. The single storey museum is set in its own wheelchair accessible building within the grounds of Hever Castle.

Teachers can prebook the eight WW1 and WW2 onsite learning haversack resources, which have been specifically created to feature many links to the KS2 curriculum, including history, literacy, remembrance, maths and science. You can learn more about these resources here.

Entry to the Castle & Gardens is included.

Suitable for KS2 (7-11 yrs).

School groups must be pre-booked, and free flow access to the Castle is from 12:00pm. Visitors are divided into groups of no more than 25.

Children’s Private Guided Castle Tour

Have you ever wondered what the cure for nausea was in medieval times? Our children’s school groups tour will tell you this and more as it focuses on life in a medieval England and some of the weird practises people went through every day. We also follow the story of Anne Boleyn, Hever Castle’s most famous – and unluckiest – resident who became the second wife of the notorious King Henry VIII. Tours can be tailored to focus on particular themes and topics on request.

Taking a private guided tour of the Castle gives children the opportunity to be inspired by history as they listen and interact with their guides. Entry to the Gardens is included, but a return visit to the Castle is not permitted. In the event of the tour being cancelled on the day or late arrival preventing the tour from taking place, a charge for the guides booked will be made.

Castle tours must be pre-booked and are conducted outside of normal opening hours, commencing at 10am and 10.30am. Visitors are divided into groups of no more than 25, with one tour guide per group. Tours last approximately 1 hour and can be given in English only at present.

KS1 (5-7 yrs) and KS2 (7-11 yrs) tours are available.

school trip

Time Travellers Tour & Workshop

Imagine you are a 16th century noble living at Hever Castle during a visit from King Henry VIII. What is happening? What can you see and smell? Our Castle tour will explain all of this and more as you uncover the tale of living in a castle during the Tudor period. Later, head up to our designated classroom to learn all about late medieval life and how different it could be for peasants and Royals. Play with Tudor toys, try on some Tudor hats and even have a try at tapestry weaving. It’s harder than it looks!

Entry to the Gardens is included.

The Time Travellers Tour & Workshop must be pre-booked. Visitors are divided into groups of no more than 25.

KS1 (5-7 yrs) and KS2 (7-11 yrs) tours are available.

Romans Tour & Workshop

Learn about Roman life on this outdoor tour which uses Hever Castle’s vast collection of ancient statues to unravel the oddities and intricacies of Imperial Rome. Set within our Italian style gardens, this tour will also include a hands-on workshop, where paper mosaics and working aqueducts can be constructed to show how skilled and clever the ancient Romans were.

Entry to the Castle is included.

The Romans Tour & Workshop must be pre-booked and operates from April to September only (Mon– Fri).

Suitable for KS2 (7-11 yrs). Maximum 30 per guide.

Castle Interactive Audio Guide

Children’s interactive audio guides bringing over 600 years of Hever Castle to life are included as part of a self guided visit. Be guided through the rooms of the Castle with lively insight into how life might have been in Tudor times.

School groups must be pre-booked and tours using the interactive audio guides are conducted from 12:00pm on days the Castle is open. We ask that you split into smaller groups when entering the Castle.

The children’s interactive audio guide is only available in English and lasts approximately 45 minutes. Entry to the Gardens is included, but a return visit to the Castle is not permitted.

Before Your Visit

School Information Pack

Download all the information you need, including classroom resources, teacher’s notes, maps, health and safety information.

School Trip Health & Safety

Click below to discover useful information to help you tackle the health and safety myths of organising school trips.

Curriculum

A visit falls into 2 categories in the national history curriculum for England. Download the full curriculum here.

Classroom Resources

Here you can find a selection of resources to use in the classroom before or after your visit.

Anne Boleyn Happy Graph

Download

Powerpoint Classroom Presentation

Download

Make your own Tudor neck ruff

Download

Write a letter to Anne Boleyn

Download

Hever Castle for sale notice

Download

Make your own Tudor coins

Download

Tudor Family Tree

Download

Frequently Asked Questions