Leeds Castle

March 18, 2007

Trivia - Because of Lord Fairfax, there is a sundial at Fairfax, Virginia telling the time in Leeds Castle, and a sundial at Leeds Castle telling the time in Virginia.

Springtime in England and it was on to Leeds! Leeds Castle, a Norman castle set on two islands in the middle of the River Len, was built in 1119 and has been home to a number of English royalty, including Edward I, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

Leeds is the home of the famous black swans. they were a gift given to Winston Churchill after WWII. He sent them to Leeds to live, and the descendants still live here today!

Leeds Castle has an aviary, a maze (which was a-mazing!), a grotto (very cool), a golf course and maybe the only dog collar museum in the world (which we didn't go into).

We took an ITT tour there (with Ang and Josh Campbell as the escorts). It is nice to go on these trips - we don't have to worry about parking or driving - after a long day out, it's a real treat!

There is quite a walk to get to the main castle, and along the way, I took many pictures of the wildlife and beautiful scenery. Of course, the scenery happened to include my two beautiful children! ;)

Unfortunately, we arrived during some renovations of the front of the castle ... stinks for the pictures, but pictures were taken none-the-less. The good news is we were able to delight in the thrills of the maze! It took approx. 20 minutes to find the center - Jacob and Austin were repeat visitors to the maze! After the maze, we entered the grotto, which appears to be a man-made cave, filled with intricate patterns made out of shells and rock. It was AWESOME in the grotto! Definitely our 'favorite part of the day'!

We did get caught in a downpour at one point, but the day turned out to be mainly sunny, though the wind was chilly!

At the end of the day, we were getting ready to board the bus and lo and behold, we saw ourselves an albino peacock! It was amazing! This was the first time we've ever seen one ... not sure how common they are, but we were total tourists and took tons of pictures!

Leeds is sometimes called the most beautiful castle in all of England - we all have our favorites, of course, and Leeds Castle is in the top 5!