As it was such a lovely day I decided to visit Leeds Castle, they have just finished planting the new Princess Alexandra Gardens alongside the River Len is a particularly lovely way to approach the Castle. It has a lovely seating area before you meander your way to the castle. It was such a sunny day and not a lot of people around, so you can just take your time.
As you walk along the path you are always greeted by the waterfowl, they say don't feed them, but resistance is futile, especially when you have kids in tow, and they want to feed the ducks. The trees are in full leaf and everything is green and growing. They have finished with the re-pointing of the castle, so the scaffolding has gone, so the castle is back to its full glory.
I was keen on going to see Lady Baillie garden in the summer, when I arrived after dodging a whole load of school kids coming the other way.
I was greeted by hollyhocks all over the garden which, as a surprise, good for the bees. The roses were giving of their perfume which filled the air.
As I continued my walk along the pathway I saw white butterflies with black markings, first I thought they were cabbage whites, but the markings were more striking, I tried to take pictures of them, but they were too quick for my camera, I did wait to see if one would land, but they never did, so I couldn't take a picture of one. I found out later when I got home and looked it up, they were Marble whites, well known to live in grassland areas in the south-east of England.
As I went on I could resist going into the maze, been in there a good few times now but still able to get lost, I got a good idea of direction, but there is a tricky bit near the end but still able to find the middle, you can usually hear people shouting at others about which way they should go! Most still look lost.
After going out through the grotto I went to the Falconry display, It was just about to start, seen it before, but this was a cut down version for the birds to just have a fly around and get feed. Managed to get a few good pics, limited by the camera's abilities to process pictures at high speed.
They have built a crazy golf area, I didn't have a go this time, but will next visit. I decided to stop walking and take the boat back to the castle, they almost ran over a signed swan, it wouldn't get out of the way. Don't worry, it eventually got the message to move its arse out of the way. The gardens looked good from the water as we chugged along on the lake.
I thought I would have a quick look browse the gift shop, not looking to buy especially at tourist prices but just having a good old nose, then onto the castle. I had again a quick walk tour around the castle, the court yard was open and whizzed around that as well, there was a door open, but it didn't go any ware, so I back tracked my way to the exit.
Furthermore, I did see a group of people punting around the castle mote, may be something to consider on doing next time, it at £7 per person or £19 for a family, don't know how long it will take, I would guess twenty minutes max.
Ended walking back next to the castle mote, could have taken the land train, but it was such a lovely day for a walk.
For more pictures, you can visit my Flickr page or Click Here for my MediaFire album.
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