Leeds Castle

Saturday my sister, Lauren, and her husband, Jeff, flew into southern England. We went down south to meet up with them and stayed two nights at their timeshare in Kent. Partly to keep them awake on Saturday, and mostly because we wanted to see it, we toured Leeds Castle.

Not to be confused with the city Leeds, where Pat works in West Yorkshire, Leeds Castle is about 250 miles away. The name is just a coincidence. Noted in the Domesday Book, Leeds Castle is over 1,000 years old and started off as a Norman fortification, has been home to 6 medieval Queens, home to Henry VIII, and was more recently owned by half-American Lady Baillie who had an oil inheritance and a bird fetish.

Known as the "Queen's Castle" and "The loveliest castle in the world" (according to Lord Conway), this castle is very different from any we've visited because of its beautiful and dramatic surroundings. It is definitely the most romantic and idyllic—I think I caught a glimpse of a knight on a white horse disappearing behind the crest of a hill.

You approach the castle through the "Duckery" where exotic birds like black swans, white peacocks, and regular old peacocks mingle with the likes of Canadian geese and other birds I can't identify. Lady Baillie was a bird aficionado who collected rare species and even incorporated bird motifs into her interior decor. Today, the site houses internationally renowned aviaries and as you walk around the house you are aware of the birds squawking as they happily paddle in the lake.






You are then guided through beautifully landscaped grounds with winding canals and weeping willows as you approach the castle itself, gracefully perched on two small islands in a lake.




I would have assumed that the grounds were a romantic creation of Lady Baillie, but according to information I found on the web, the parkland "...dates from the early-middle ages, and was designed to enhance the architecture and status of the royal castle at its core." Edward I is credited with damming and controlling the River Len to create the lake, building a unique three-pronged Barbican with three drawbridges, gateways, and portcullises. He also built outer walls and a D-shaped Keep on the smallest island, known then and now as the Gloriette. All of this is said to have been influenced by "...the late 13th century Norman and Spanish Islamic influences associated with Edward I and his wife, Eleanor of Castile." However, after much renovation, the majority of the present building dates to the 19th and 20th centuries.




Inside the castle, there are some rooms designed to reflect the medieval Queens who called this home. Check out the glamorous bathtub below.


Henry VIII's dining room.


There are also many rooms reflecting Lady Baillie's French-inspired decor.




This Castle is still in use today and is available for conferences, weddings, etc. Having between 20 and 30 bedrooms for visitors, there's plenty of room for a sleepover.