Short answers, pulled from the story.
Historians including Eric Ives consider it likely that Anne Boleyn was born at Blickling Hall around 1501, when her parents Thomas Boleyn and his wife Elizabeth lived there between 1499 and 1505. A statue and portrait at the estate carry the inscription "Anna Bolena hic nata 1507," though this date is at odds with other historical evidence.
Blickling Hall was designed by Robert Lyminge, the same architect who designed Hatfield House. Construction began in 1616 under Sir Henry Hobart, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and 1st Baronet, who bought the estate from Lady Agnes Clere that year.
Blickling Hall passed to the National Trust in December 1940, following the death of Philip Kerr, the 11th Marquess of Lothian, who left the estate as a bequest under the Country Houses Scheme. The house and grounds opened to the public in 1962.
The library at Blickling Hall holds an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 volumes spanning 146 linear feet of shelving. The core collection was formed by Sir Richard Ellys (1682-1742), a cousin of the Hobart family. It includes the Blickling Homilies, one of the earliest surviving examples of English vernacular homiletic writing.
During World War II, Blickling Hall was requisitioned and served as the Officers' Mess for nearby RAF Oulton. Officers were housed inside the mansion, while other RAF personnel were billeted in Nissen huts on the grounds. The estate's lake was used to practise dinghy drills.
Sir John Fastolf of Caister in Norfolk (1380-1459) owned Blickling in the 15th century, before the Boleyn family acquired it. He made his fortune in the Hundred Years' War, and his coat of arms is still on display at Blickling Hall today.