I live in Vienna, Austria, and I enjoy travelling (especially to England and Scotland). --> See ...
I live in Vienna, Austria, and I enjoy travelling (especially to England and Scotland). --> See my detailed profile for more <--
Member since:16.02.2001
Reviews:39
Members who trust:71
Last summer, we spent one day at Leeds Castle. 'The Loveliest Castle in the World' - that's what they call themselves, but I can confirm that it is indeed one of the loveliest castles that I have ever been to. In fact, it is much more than just a castle.
Leeds Castle is located in Kent, near Maidstone. The best way to get there is via the M20 leaving at junction 8.
From the car park, you walk to the main entrance and ticket office. It's actually not cheap, we had to pay GBP 26.- for a family ticket (castle + park) last year, but it's worth the money.
First of all, you should enjoy a walk around the large park which will take you along the Wood Garden, the Cedar Pond and the Duckery, where you can watch a number of wildfowl, swans, geese, kingfishers, sparrowhawks and peafowl.
The castle itself is surrounded by water, you have to enter the island via a brigde and the Gate house. The entrance to the castle is through a Norman Cellar, and it is worth to walk around inside and to see the rooms where you can find a lot of interesting art and furniture from a number of centuries.
After leaving the castle - still on the island - you may want to visit the Dog Collar Museum, one of the very few such museums where you can find a collection of antique dog collars.
If you then continue your walk along the Great Water, you'll come along the Fairfax Courtyard with a nice restaurant (Fairfax Hall). After that, you enter Culpeper Garden which has got a lot of roses, pinks, lupins and poppies, and the Lady Baillie Garden nearby, which is a terraced flower garden close to the Great Water.
In the Aviary you'll find more than 100 species of very rare and endangered birds. But there is even more towards the end of the park: vineyards, 13 early 20th century greenhouses and a tea room (where you can get refreshments, teas and coffees).
The top attraction for our kids, however, was the Maze with the secret underground grotto in the middle. It was quite difficult to find the way through the Maze, because unfortunately the normal trick (turn right every time) turned out not to be successful in this particular Maze.
As you can see, it is quite easy to spend the whole day there.
Leeds Castle is not only one of the top tourist attractions in the country, it is also a famous conference, banqueting and wedding venue, a hot air balloon launch site, a concert arena, and it offers a 9 hole golf course as well as a lot of special events (Kentish evenings, dining, etc.).
Of course, there are also some shops where can buy gifts and souvenirs.
Opening times are 10 am to 5 pm March to October and 10 am to 3 pm (last admission) from November to February.
You may want to visit their website (www.leeds-castle.co.uk) where you can also find details about any special events.
If you want to have a great family day out, why not visit Leeds Castle? We enjoyed it very much last summer.
Well written op, I keep meaning to go visit a castle (as an aussie stranded in London) but thought they were all too far away. I better think of another excuse or get on the train and visit this one! Thanks Ken
BIGHORSE 26.03.2001 17:06
Another excellent op - I'll check it out when I have the chance. Thanks, Adam.
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Good selection of shops and food outlets, nice houses, friendly people. Disadvantages: Grammar schools, snobs and chavs. Not great for tourists, except Leeds Castle.
timmyotoole 05.08.2001 (13.08.2001)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Maidstone in General
Mar 11th, 2001
(Mar 22nd, 2001)
very helpful by (98%):
helpful by (2%):
