Over the years, I've lost count of the number of times I've passed through Dover on my way to the continent. Passing through seemed to be the right thing to do, as it's perhaps not the most attractive of Kentish towns.

* DOVER CASTLE *

Henry II completely reconstructed the castle between 1168 and 1188, creating the towered walls of the Inner Bailey, some of the outer walls and the large square Keep at the castle's heart - the keep is the largest in England.
Throughout the medieval period, the castle managed to withstand all efforts to capture, or destroy it. It was taken over by Parliamentarians during the Civil War, but hardly a shot was fired and the castle survived intact.

When we bought our tickets, we were given a small map but everything's well signposted so it's not hard to find your way around. There's no set route to explore the castle, but it pays to stop a while, study the map, and get your bearings - the site is quite hilly and you don't want to be climbing up and down any more than is needed.

There's not an awful lot to see inside the building - an exhibition about the visit of Henry VIII in 1539, the small chapel, and some bed-chambers etc. It's still pretty interesting though, especially if you have any interest in construction technique as it's a quite impressive structure and there are 1 or 2 unusual features, such as: The well is accessible on the second floor only - this meant that if the lower part of the keep were attacked, the enemy couldn't poison the water supply. It was cut through some 400ft of chalk to achieve this. The water was piped throughout the Keep from this lofty position and some of the pipes are still visible.

The INNER BAILEY walls surround the KEEP YARD, and this was always the hub of the castle. From the earliest times, this would have been lined with buildings of all types, but most of the present ones date from the 18th century and were constructed as barracks.
Some of the buildings aren't open to the public, but the ones that are house: The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment Museum, a shop, a restaurant (which is closed in winter), and toilets.

Fast approaching LUNCH-TIME, we made our way downhill to the main restaurant. This is housed in an old Naafi canteen from the time when the castle was still a garrison (troops were stationed in the castle until 1958 - a total of 892 years military occupation). Happily, it had been modernised since those days, although I don't think the quality of the food had improved a great deal. It wasn't terrible, just over-cooked and over-priced.

The guided tour usually takes around an hour, including an introductory film, but some of the tunnel was closed due to maintenance.

Many of the tunnels have been restored with the original features (table-maps, telephone exchange, office furniture etc) and give a very authentic feel for what it must have been like to live and work down there during that period. The desks even had ash-trays overflowing with Woodbine and Capstan cigarette-butts!

Dover Castle is owned and run by English Heritage. Now, most of its 1000+ years history is exclusively English, but I took exception to the guide in the tunnels continually droning on about Hitler planning to invade "England", bomb "England", and "English" troops being rescued from Dunkirk, blah...blah...blah. All the history books I've ever read mention BRITAIN being at war with nazi Germany and, I'm maybe sticking my neck out here, but isn't that why that little spat in the sky above Kent was called the Battle of Britain?
I thought about chinning the guide and pointing out the sacrifice that Scots, Welsh and Ulstermen made, but everyone knows we Scots aren't an aggressive people...besides, MrsP told me to keep it firmly zipped.

It is recommended that you allocate four hours for your visit. I would suggest that a little longer might be more realistic if you want to see everything. We missed out quite a bit, and it was not very busy, and we were there for at least 4 hours. At busy holiday times when I imagine it's quite crowded, I think you could easily spend the best part of a day.
I would also suggest buying the guide book at the entrance. Although you are given a map and small guide with your ticket, the guide book is a wealth of information and brings the site alive. Well worth £2.99.