A fun outing!
Yesterday Mr Cee took the day off from our garden project, so we went out for a very nice lunch, and in the evening we went on a Segway Tour of the grounds of Leeds Castle.
A castle has existed on the site since 857 owned by a Saxon chief called Len or Leed (hence the name). It went through several owners and there were several different castle buildings before it was bought in 1278 by King Edward I's Queen, Eleanor of Castile. Subsequently, the castle was lived in by various consorts and ladies and ended up being the residence of Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon in 1519.
It passed through more hands and eventually was bought by Lady Baillie in 1926 for £180,000 (equivalent to over ten million pounds today). Described as an "Anglo-American heiress, landowner and hostess" - she loved it spending a lot of money renovating it. She threw expensive parties with famous celebrities (the Prince of Wales and Wallace Simpson, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Ian Fleming, and many of the Royal family), who would fly into her personal airfield to avoid being seen at the gates! The parties were known for being quite scandalous and what happened behind the closed doors was rarely mentioned! She died in 1974 and it's been open to the public since 1976.
We didn't get to go inside, but our two-hour ride on Segways around the castle grounds was really good fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Under the cut for a few photos (not many as we were told not to take photos while whizzing around at 14mph/22kph!).
The castle is surrounded by quite a shallow moat. it's not a classic castle as it's not on a hill and the moat really wouldn't stop anyone from walking across to it. The current building is partly from the 1600s and the 1800s with further remodelling done in the 1930s.
One of the artificial lakes.
Look! No hands LOL!
Some of the others were catching us up when we went onto the more adventurous part of the terrain with lots of hills and bumps to negotiate.
Another castle view
And again. The land is really extensive and now has a glamping site, a golf course, a maze, children's play areas (including an artificial beach!), an Airbnb and you can hire the castle for events and even stay in it if you can afford it. The castle is used as a location for films and TV.
Trees that have died have been carved into interesting beasts including this dragon.
We will definitely revisit the castle (outside of the tourist season) as it's not too far away (just under an hour to drive to) and we'd love to have a look around inside and a slower look at the different garden areas we went through. We want to book the Segway Tour again too as it was so much fun (and a good workout for balance and core!).
A castle has existed on the site since 857 owned by a Saxon chief called Len or Leed (hence the name). It went through several owners and there were several different castle buildings before it was bought in 1278 by King Edward I's Queen, Eleanor of Castile. Subsequently, the castle was lived in by various consorts and ladies and ended up being the residence of Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon in 1519.
It passed through more hands and eventually was bought by Lady Baillie in 1926 for £180,000 (equivalent to over ten million pounds today). Described as an "Anglo-American heiress, landowner and hostess" - she loved it spending a lot of money renovating it. She threw expensive parties with famous celebrities (the Prince of Wales and Wallace Simpson, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Ian Fleming, and many of the Royal family), who would fly into her personal airfield to avoid being seen at the gates! The parties were known for being quite scandalous and what happened behind the closed doors was rarely mentioned! She died in 1974 and it's been open to the public since 1976.
We didn't get to go inside, but our two-hour ride on Segways around the castle grounds was really good fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Under the cut for a few photos (not many as we were told not to take photos while whizzing around at 14mph/22kph!).
The castle is surrounded by quite a shallow moat. it's not a classic castle as it's not on a hill and the moat really wouldn't stop anyone from walking across to it. The current building is partly from the 1600s and the 1800s with further remodelling done in the 1930s.
One of the artificial lakes.
Look! No hands LOL!
Some of the others were catching us up when we went onto the more adventurous part of the terrain with lots of hills and bumps to negotiate.
Another castle view
And again. The land is really extensive and now has a glamping site, a golf course, a maze, children's play areas (including an artificial beach!), an Airbnb and you can hire the castle for events and even stay in it if you can afford it. The castle is used as a location for films and TV.
Trees that have died have been carved into interesting beasts including this dragon.
We will definitely revisit the castle (outside of the tourist season) as it's not too far away (just under an hour to drive to) and we'd love to have a look around inside and a slower look at the different garden areas we went through. We want to book the Segway Tour again too as it was so much fun (and a good workout for balance and core!).