Leeds Castle

I saw some pictures of this castle on a friends facebook page and knew we needed to go there.  I was so happy we did.  It was absolutely beautiful and we had a fantastic day!!  And our tickets are good for a year so if you are planning to come visit, can you come before March 2013 so we can get in for free :) 

There was about a 10-15 minute walk through the grounds to get up to the castle.  My kids loved watching the peacocks walking all around.   They were awesome looking.

We don't know what kind of bird this is.... so we are hoping Josh S. can tell us....

I absolutely love the fact that the castle has a mote around it.  I mean really, aren't all castles suppose to have one?

I think they were making funny poses.

I am still just amazed with how old everything is here.  12th century?  I don't even know when that was but it sounds like a really long time ago!

Owen's next Halloween costume.

This was the old style washroom.  Can you even imagine taking a bath in this round thing?  And it would be so hard to control the water temperature. 

I would love to have this many friends come to dinner!  There is a picture of Henry the VIII.  He didn't live here but he used the castle often as an in between stop between London and Dover while doing business. 

Lady Baillie was the last royal person to live here.  She set up the Estate to be open to the public and to hold events here after she died in like 1970 or something.  This was her bedroom.  I also learned that how high your bed frame goes is an indication of your status in society.  She apparently thought very highly of herself :)

Ummmmm, I can't remember why these lions were cool, but I'm pretty sure they are really old and from somewhere really neat and probably worth a lot of money and my children should probably have not  been hugging them. 

This is the library I want to have someday.  I'm not joking about this either. 

They still use some of the castle for events and gatherings, such as a fancy dinner.  You can also get married here.  It's no temple, but I'd have to say it would be pretty darn cool! 

There is a little spot out front that is Owen.  He and Ellika were running around the big circle.  They did really well going through the rooms.  I didn't get to read all the signs I wanted to, but I still think I got a pretty good feel for it.

The pink dot is Ellika.

I don't know what was so funny, but I love the look on both of their faces. 

Awesome huh?!  He was showing off all of his feathers.  I don't know that I have ever seen one in person doing this before.  And there were a ton of them just walking among the people.  I didn't know you could have peacocks for pets.

On the castle grounds is a very large maize.  The average person takes about 20 minutes to get through it.  Owen was leading the way.

And loving every minute of it!!

Ooops, dead end!

Owen and Brian made it all the way to the center of the maize.  About 10 minutes into it, Ellika announced that she needed to go stinky.  So of course we were well into the maize and didn't know our way out!  We somehow managed to get out and get to a toilet and Brian and Owen followed a worker to the center of the maize.... cheaters!!

After the maize we headed to the play yard.  It was so fun.  The kids really could have stayed here all day.  Brian and Owen were chasing each other all around the big kid area and Ellika just wanted to swing!

She has no fear!!  Ellika jumped right on and held on for dear life!!

I went up with the kids for a minute and realized.... I'm not a big fan of heights!!  Even with ropes and I kept wondering if whoever made these really made them for big people to go on too!!

We got to one point and had to find out way back down.  It was a little tricky!

That's why she just wanted to swing!

Then there was this fun maize that Owen could do all by himself.  He ran around and did it like 10 times! 

Ellika wasn't really interested in following the path!

We decided to try the maize again.  We were probably in there 20 or so minutes and came to a stop deciding which way to go.  We could tell we were getting close but didn't know.  A worker that was at the top yelled down to us if we needed help so we smiled and said yes please.  She said... just keep going straight.  We were like 3 feet from the finish! 

But we ALL made it!

Then to get out of the maize you can go through the grotto.  I have no idea what a grotto is but it was dark and rocky and it played spooky music. 

Ellika didn't like it at all and Owen thought it was loud and liked it when we were all done and he could talk about how cool it was (after the fact!).

It was really a great day.  We loved the time as a family.  We loved that it's only about a 45 minute drive away and there was a large car park and we loved the absolute beautiful castle. 

The pictures really don't do it justice.  Please come and visit and we'll take you there!!!