Leeds Castle

Within handy day trip distance from London (1.5 hours door to door), Leeds Castle is near Maidstone in Kent ... it makes a good day out, there was enough variety to keep me entertained for the day.

Leeds Castle itself is quite small and has historically been the residence of the widowed Queens of England, particularily in the Tudor period.

However in 1926 Leeds Castle was bought by Lady Baille an Anglo-American heiress, who converted it into a modern country house, she created new interiors and filled the place with antiques - these, forming the basis of the collection on view today. To be honest there isn't a whole lot on display, a few rooms with a tudor theme and so on.

But the castle itself is only part of the deal, there is enough else to keep you going for the day... a well stocked aviary section as well as scheduled falconary and bird displays for kids (and adults). A walk around the vineyard - they make their own wine, we bought a bottle of bubbly and Michelle said it was pretty good...

... a fun maze, more fun for us in the rain as there were huge puddles to work our way around as well as navigating the hedges! The maze ends up in the grotto, which was small but cool.

... several gardens to walk around and the bizarre dog collar museum!

We ate in the tea room where we had a very good value cream tea for £2.40 each.