UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - Kent

We kicked off with a car-free day on day one of our Kent holiday, walking to Leeds Castle from our holiday cottage in nearby Hollingbourne.  As you can see, Leeds Castle is in a glorious setting surrounded by a natural lake and is...

...one of the most visited historic buildings in Britain.  And we can confirm Leeds Castle is in Kent, not Leeds, despite the name!  We first headed in to tour the castle's many splendid state rooms reflecting the Medieval and Tudor periods...

...passing by this delightful medieval courtyard on our self-paced tour before heading on to...

...Henry VIII's banqueting hall.  Now that guy got everywhere and frequently pops up on our travels.  We could just imagine the riotous laughter and merrymaking as the serving wenches served up yet another dish.  The ebony floor was sprung for dancing and the carved Caen fireplace originates from the 16th century and came from a French chateau.

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Here's Lady Baillie's bedroom, complete with Louis XIV-style panelling.  She was the last private owner of Leeds Castle before leaving it to a charitable trust in 1974 after her death.  We were delighted photography was allowed around Leeds Castle's state rooms, as so many of these sort of places don't permit it.

Next we made our way through the castle's colourful Culpeper and Lady Baillie gardens to get lost in the Leeds Castle Maze, comprised of 2,400 yew trees.  Apparently, the average time taken to get through the maze is just 20 minutes; we took about twice that!  Anyway, eventually...

...we emerged at the maze centre, called the mound.  Although the maze at Leeds Castle is square shaped, from the mound it looks circular - amazing!  Then the exit from the maze was through...

...an eerie underground grotto full of mythical beasts such as this guy, Typhoeus.  The scary grotto was created out of shells, minerals and wood and enhanced by some well-designed mood lighting.

Leeds Castle adult entry cost £21 at the time of our visit with tickets valid for a year; this also covered the extensive gardens, maze, falconry demos, moat punting and this castle train, called Elsie.

We often manage to get a preserved railway ride in on our holidays and so we headed to Tenterden for a trip on the Kent and East Sussex Railway (KESR) to Bodiam (cost £15).  Our outward journey was on...

...this diesel railcar (er, a DMU Class 108 to be exact), seen here on arrival at Bodiam.  The KESR extended the track to Bodiam in 2000.  OK, back to...

...Tenterden then and Mike excitedly boarded the KESR vintage train carriage.  Can you spot the water tower used to fill the steam locomotives on the right?

It's about a 50 minute ride through the Kent countryside between Tenterden and Bodiam, passing through Rolvenden and Northiam along the way.

Mike headed up the train carriage to get this shot of the driver and the railway track ahead.  Now this isn't a view you can get on the steam hauled train!

However, we did enjoy watching the steam service of the Kent and East Sussex Railway hissing and spitting as it came by the other way at a passing point.  Wonderful!

We combined our ride on the Kent and East Sussex Railway with a visit to the moated 14th-century Bodiam Castle, which entitled us to a reduced entry price from the usual £6.70.

Unlike Leeds Castle earlier, Bodiam Castle is preserved in ruins which can be explored with the help of the (included) guide sheet.

We headed up the narrow spiral staircases to the castle's interior rooms which were rather bare save for a few information boards.  Several spiral...

...staircases and ramparts later we reached the battlements high in the huge towers offering a magnificent view down to Bodiam Castle's courtyard.  But all too soon it was time to return to...

...Bodiam Station for the ride back on the KESR, this time steam hauled.  There's more Kent heritage on our next page where we visit Chatham Dockyard and Herne Bay's Reculver Tower >>>