Henry VIII’s secret love nest: Three bedroom thatched cottage where king is believed to have romanced Anne Boleyn while he was married to Catherine of Aragon goes on market for £550,000
- King said to have held secret meetings at the property in Stoke Mandeville, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
- The village and the surrounding areas were inherited by Anne’s father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, back in 1529
- The monarch is rumoured to have ‘wooed’ her in the King’s Head pub – which still serves customers to this day
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A three bedroom detached cottage where Henry VIII is believed to have romanced Anne Boleyn – while still married to first wife Catherine of Aragon – has gone on the market for £550,000.
The king is said to have secretly met up with Anne, who he would later marry, at the thatched property in Stoke Mandeville, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
In 1529, Stoke Mandeville, and the whole of the surrounding area, was inherited by Sir Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s father.
Henry had started taking an interest in Anne in 1526 and pursued her throughout the tail end of his marriage to Catherine, which finished in 1533.
The monarch is rumoured to have ‘wooed’ her in the King’s Head pub – which still serves customers in the town’s Market Square today.
Estate agents Michael Anthony said: ‘Having been sympathetically restored and meticulously maintained the property is now offered to the market place.’
The main door to the cottage is at the side of the property, which leads to an open-plan sitting room and dining room.
A three bedroom detached cottage where Henry VIII is believed to have romanced Anne Boleyn – while still married to first wife Catherine of Aragon – has gone on the market for £550,000
The main door to the cottage is at the side of the property, which leads to an open-plan sitting room and dining room
The kitchen has fitted units with wooden butcher’s-block style worktops and black iron furnishings. In it, there are also natural stone floors and a lead-lined window. There is understairs storage and a separate utility room with a butler sink
The master and second bedrooms are accessed via a first floor landing, while a separate staircase and open landing – currently used for an office space – leads to the third bedroom
The rear garden space is landscaped and divided into two lawn areas, with a pea-shingled area, a decking area, patio terraces, as well as well-stocked flower beds with a summer house and timber storage shed
The two rooms are divided by a double-sided fireplace with a brick hearth housing a large wood-burning stove and the original bread oven.
The kitchen has fitted units with wooden butcher’s-block style worktops and black iron furnishings. In it, there are also natural stone floors and a lead-lined window. There is understairs storage and a separate utility room with a butler sink.
The master and second bedrooms are accessed via a first floor landing, while a separate staircase and open landing – currently used for an office space – leads to the third bedroom.
The rear garden space is landscaped and divided into two lawn areas, with a pea-shingled area, a decking area, patio terraces, as well as well-stocked flower beds with a summer house and timber storage shed.
Meanwhile, the front garden space offers a gravelled driveway, accessed via a five-bar gate which provides parking for three to four vehicles.
The property was previously on the market back in 2016, priced at £535,000.
Paul Aughton, who bought the house five years earlier with his partner Pearl, told the Mail on Sunday at the time: ‘It was always our dream to live in a thatched cottage and we loved the property from the moment we saw it. The only reason we are moving is to retire overseas.’
Pearl added: ‘Whenever there’s a wedding or christening at the church opposite, some of the guests point their cameras at our cottage to take photos, which is always a compliment.’