Being highly recommended by most we met.. we took a day out to Leeds Castle, Kent... not Yorkshire... so it was less than an hrs drive! The grounds are amazing, with lots of birds.. and the castle itself is really beautiful... pity we didn't think to charge the batteries on our camera... it had run out before we got inside... which was a good thing in a way... meant we probably took more in rather than just trying to take a great photo!
It's actually built across 2 islands on the River Len... and while it has been home to Royalty, including Henry VIII's wife Queen Catherine of Aragon... it's never been the site of a battle... from what we could tell... Henry VIIIs entire court stopped at Leeds Castle en route to the tournament of the Field of Cloth of Gold, in France in the 16th Century... there was a summary of the number of soldiers, cattle etc that they took with them... we were surprised to read that it included 2 dolphins... didn't say whether they were dead or alive... were interested in first understanding why they would need them and secondly how they would have been transported... but unfortunately no one there was able to answer our questions.
After wandering through the castle... imagining what it must have been like living somewhere like that... we headed outside and to the dog collar museum... the last resident of the house Lady Baillee was into dogs... but still the museum wasn't my kinda thing.. but a little quirky.
The grounds also have quite a large aviary... which included a lot of tropical birds.. toucans etc... we felt a little sorry for them... shivering in the freezing English wind.. poor things.
We missed out on the maze.. but all in all it was a great day out and thoroughly recommend it!
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