For anyone wondering, Leeds Castle is not in Leeds. Leeds is way up north, about halfway between London and Edinburgh. Leeds Castles sits outside Rochester, to the southeast of London. I'm sorry to say I didn't know this until I got to the train station for my day trip. Good thing I did not decide to buy a train ticket and take myself to this one! I'll be more careful before I go anywhere else.
I went on this day trip with London Walks. The Castle sits in a lake and the grounds have extensive gardens and wildlife. In the 1100s a cousin of King William the Conqueror began construction of Leeds Castle. Various owners continued construction until the late 1200s when Queen Eleanor bought the Castle. It was owned and occupied by a series of queens and kings for the next several centuries (most famously, Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon).
Finally, the Castle was handed to royal favorites and passed through ownership of several wealthy merchant families. In the 20th Century, the Castle was purchased by an American heiress, Lady Baillie. She renovated the Castle into a modern home that she occupied and used to entertain many famous guests. The Castle was used as a rehab center for soldiers in WW2 and finally passed into a trust that maintains the property today. You can rent the Castle for events - corporate or weddings and such. Lady Baillie imported many exotic birds to the property including ducks, swans (white and black) and peacocks.
Lady Baillie also loved dogs and had her dogs buried near this pond with markers. There is even a special museum at the Castle with dog collars - from medieval collars to hunting collars to 20th century war dogs. These are portraits of her dogs hanging in the castle.
The property includes a formal English garden and a hedge maze, that I was able to successfully navigate with some others on my tour.
I am improving on my self-photo taking skills!
No comments:
Post a Comment