Thanks to the great organisation prowess of Laura, I got to visit Leeds Castle today with a great bunch of people including Team BaM, Jamie, David, Laura and so many others. It was officially my first visit to a castle of any kind and I found it surreal walking around on the grounds all day and enjoyed the good but albeit frosty English winter day.
Despite its name, Leeds Castle is not at all associated with the city of Leeds that lays north west of London. Instead this historic building was named after the village of Leeds in Kent with the closest major city being Maidstone. The trip is excellent with an hour and half coach trip departing from Victoria, dropping you off, and picking you up at the bottom of the castle grounds. I highly recommend you book in advance, as it is a popular destination for locals and visitors alike.
The castle itself is surprisingly small, surrounded by on all sides by a lake and only accessible on one side through its bridge. The castles grounds are massive and are home to a fantastic aviary and falconry, a decently sized hedge maze and grotto, a vineyard, a unique but bizarre dog collar museum and the rolling green parklands, some of which visitors use as a golf course.
After first meandering through the castle looking at some of the lavish decorations and richness of recreations of room settings we spent a bit of time in the aviary. The last former owners apparently established the most exotic British collection of birds that the caretakers maintain even today. Birds form all over the world fill the 40 something cages, providing a closer look at some amazing birds including the majestic toucan, colourful macaws, noisy galahs and cockatoos. There is even a demonstration that involves the number of birds kept in the falconry, displaying their flying and hunting abilities. The hedge maze was probably my most favourite part of the day, as we split into several groups and attempted to race each other to the middle of the maze where its grotto is. All in all, a fantastic day and visit to another part of England.
More pictures can be seen if you click on the picture above or here.