Leeds Castle

A fabulous day with our old college friend up from Portishead for a few days.

First we travelled to nearby Leeds Castle taking an excellent audio tour around the Castle learning so much we didn’t know about the history of the site. It never was a castle in in the defensive sense it was more of a “homestead” occupied by powerful women over the centuries.

Leeds was a royal palace for Henry VIII with various wives living there. A later addition was made in 1822 and the final influential woman was Lady Bailee who lived there from the 1920s to 1970s and remodelled many of the Tudor rooms and the later 19th century additions.

Various influential actors, artists and politicians visited the castle in the 20th. The audio tour and CGI graphics were outstanding and gave a clear understanding of the development of the site over time.

After lunch we moved on to Tenterden to visit the railway, watch some trains come and go and visit the signalbox.

It was a fine day out, as if the intervening years had not happened. Both he and Susan taught in primary schools so there was much common ground. He’s travelled much by bus and train, has an interest in heritage railways, an accomplished organist and also a geographer like myself. So none of us were short of conversation.