Maidstone - Leeds Castle

About 4mi/6km east of Maidstone stands Leeds Castle, in the opinion of Lord Conway "the loveliest castle in the world". The castle gets its name from Led, the prime minister of Ethelbert IV, King of Kent (857). The original Norman fortress was built on two islands in the middle of a lake, now encircled by ducks, Hawaiian geese and black swans. Henry VIII had the D-shaped, two-story building turned into a magnificent palace, which was to be used as a royal residence for over 300 years.

The main building was completed at the beginning of the 19th century. At the same time a ring of battlements was added to the Maiden's Tower at the eastern end of the island, which dates from the Tudor period. Of note inside the castle are the Banqueting Hall of Henry VIII, with its wonderful ebony floor and carved oak ceiling; the Yellow Room, the silk damask design of which was created by Boudin in 1936; the Thorpe Hall Room, which is an outstanding example of decorative arts in the middle of the 17th century; and the unique Dog's Collar Museum, with exhibits up to 400 years old. The parkland, extending over an area of some 500acres/200ha, contains woodland, Culpeper Garden (surrounded by beech hedges), a labyrinth of 2,400 oak-trees, a grotto, the aviary, opened in 1988, with over 100 types of birds, greenhouses and a golf course.