Visit to Leeds Castle

In the heart of the Kent countryside, not far from the county town of Maidstone, lies Leeds Castle - marketed as 'The Loveliest Castle In the World'. As my young family and I were to discover, beauty can sometimes be skin deep…

For a historical estate, the basic amenities are pretty good - plenty of parking, well-maintained toilets scattered throughout and a selection of places to pick up drinks, snacks or larger meals along the way. I only spotted one baby changing area during our visit, and there was a particularly long walk from the entrance to the castle during which my 3 year old son was forced to relieve himself amongst the bushes. Thankfully there are plenty of them, together with some of the most stunning flowers, shrubs and unusual plants we had ever seen. My son was particularly taken with the umbrella-like leaves of a gigantic rhubarb plant that he wanted to set up home under, and the gargantuan trees themselves simply reeked of ancient history and magic. Legend tells that King Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn at Leeds Castle, and even today it is easy to imagine him swooping between these wondrous trees on his hunting horse. It's worth mentioning that you can avoid the long walk from the entrance to the castle by taking a courtesy 'land-train', which we were glad to avoid
on the way up since there is so much to see by taking the walk that you would otherwise miss. By the end of a long visit though, many a parent with irritable, tired children will bless the little land-train as it comes to take them back to the car park.

	Leeds Castle is famed for it's wild life - particularly its collection of water and wildfowl. The 'Duckery' is an excellent place to introduce younger children to the different varieties and personalities of birds, and we were amazed by the cheekiness of large carp in the Cedar Pond that snapped biscuits from our son's hands at the surface of the water. The most confident birds of all were the stunningly beautiful peacocks - in Indian Blue and Albino varieties - that saunter majestically between the groups of visitors as if they were the reincarnations of medieval lords and ladies parading their finery. The best thing about Leeds Castle is that there is something for all ages, although perhaps not quite enough to suit the tastes of the very young. Our son loved the aviary, with its array of rare and exotic (and very noisy) birds, and the small but complex maze (a fairly recent addition to the Castle grounds) kept us all amused for about half
an hour. Towards the end, our little one demanded to be carried, but it was a useful method of 'cheating' to have someone above shoulder height that could point us in the right direction. At the centre of the maze is a surprise reward - a fantastic and mysterious grotto, which although being a modern addition fits in so well that we wanted to believe it had been there for centuries. Down some dark and moist stairs you come to an underground cave full of strange sculptures in the walls - green men, dragons, a phoenix, mermaids even - all formed from rocks, shells or even glass bottles. It was a truly magical prize to find after the work of the maze, but a word of warning - neither the maze nor the grotto are suited to prams or wheelchairs and our 3 year old was quite scared in the grotto and clung to me like a baby monkey until curiosity got the better of him.

Back outside there are still plenty of things to see for the older visitor - the heady aromas coming from the Culpepper herb garden were completely lost on our toddler who just ran through it at full pelt demanding ice cream. Obviously, the golf course wasn't for him and although the Dog Collar Museum was genuinely fascinating for us, our son wasn't too impressed. Since we had arrived quite early, we settled on the idea of a quick brunch before heading inside the castle itself (presuming to save the best till last). We then hit our first major hurdle. Many of the food outlets within the grounds don't open until 12pm and then close at 3pm. The only place we could find to dine was within Fairfax Courtyard where the choice wasn't particularly child-friendly. Looking for a banana or a packet of crisps proved hopeless and straight away we realised our mistake in not bringing a picnic. Due to the lack of options available at 11:30am we 'forced' ourselves to eat chocolate mousse, which was delicious but far too nice to waste on children. If you catch the snack shops and restaurants at the right time of day they
serve everything from pre-packed children's lunches to gourmet restaurant food, but it's worth knowing this before you set off so you can plan your day around their opening hours. The gift shops were a little disappointing for children. Very much aimed at the older tourist, there was little to tempt a young heart (perhaps as a parent on a budget I should have been grateful for this) and the only pocket money toys seemed to have little or nothing to do with the castle, Henry VIII or anything historical at all. Best buy (one of only 2 castle-related toys I spotted in the entire complex) was a nicely made and painted wooden sword and shield set and a similar bow and arrow set (fake of course) which any aspiring knight would love (or perhaps a slightly older child who was past the stage of using such items to punish their parents' shins with).

	Lastly, we came to the castle itself, indeed a rare beauty from the outside boasting a large moat and keep. There were quite long queues to get inside, something that surprised us for the time of year that we visited, but we placated our young son with promises of seeing 'a real live castle where Kings and Queens actually stayed! ' Once inside, our hearts sunk. Apart from what seemed like only 3 or 4 rather small rooms in medieval style, the rest of castle seemed completely out of character with its façade or the sense of history that we'd been led to expect. Many of the rooms are decorated as they were in the earlier part of the 20th century, and much of the space dedicated to the art collections and furniture of the Baillie family who bought and restored the castle. To their credit, the family saved one of England's finest examples of ancient architecture and turned the grounds into the wondrous vista it is today, but walking through their turn-of-the-century parlours would only appeal to the most earnest of historians or antiques experts. Where was the spirit of King Henry? Where was the medieval magic? Our son dragged us through
the entire castle in about 4 minutes flat in search of some of the mysteries we had promised him. With toddlers one must prepare to view everything you might like to linger by at a jogging pace, as they have the ability to absorb what they want and dismiss what they don't in an instant. Fasten them to a dog leash and wear a pair of roller skates and they'd pull you through any historical property before King Henry could say 'off with her head'. To be fair, it would probably have taken the likes of Disney to create the sort of fairy tale magic that most youngsters expect from their first visit to a castle. Our son hated the fact that he couldn't jump up and down on the replica of a Queen's bed, nor open the drawers in the chambers of the more recent occupants of the castle. Throwing the odd spear or suit of armour on the wall was obviously not enough to satisfy the hunger for history of any child I saw there, nor the adults in this particular family, I'm sad to say. As a parent, it's hard not to be disappointed when your children are, but Leeds Castle really is an exceptionally lovely place to visit. Pick a sunny day, take a picnic, leave the buggies at home and you'll still have a wonderful time. Even with older, more inquisitive children, you won't miss much by not paying the extra £5 on a family ticket to go inside the castle. Do go for the scenery, the woodlands, the wild life and maze. But if you want real history - just look at the trees!

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