Leeds Castle once referred to as the most beautiful castle in the world and something they still use on all their promotional items is quite breath taking. It sets on what appears to be a small island in a very small lake or has a very large moat surrounding it. Regardless it makes for great pictures.

Leeds was also purchased by an American in the mid 20th century. (After WWII Britain had an outrageous inheritance tax and not many could continue to afford the upkeep of these grand estates.) So most of the inside of the estate was decorated in high end mid century. More Newport Rhode Island than my house in fact the tour guide pointed out that a crocodile skinned desk in her bedroom was the most valuable piece in the castle.

There were enough Tudor reference in the castle to make it worth while to the tour fanatics. Henry and Katherine stayed at Leeds on their way to the “Field of Cloth of Gold” which was Henry’s negotiations for a treaty with France. There was a period painting depicting the travel to s
France and the crossing at Dover. To me it was just a lovely castle in a lovely setting.

The highlight of the visit was punting on the moat. I was a little nervous getting in but once everyone got settled and it quit rocking so much I enjoyed the ride. We glided around the base of the castle and into what was once and old bathhouse which was used by the visiting kings.

The castle also boasted of a black swan family and we got pretty close to two of them while punting around the castle. Both our tour and the punt ride took longer than scheduled so we didn’t have much time to spend looking at the grounds. So sadly we did not get to walk through the gardens.

On the bus they often explain where we are going or if that is not necessary some random topic. Today’s was on the wills of women in the Tudor time period. There were very few unless the women was a widow and generally only for personal items of jewelry. Anne of Vleves left her best price of jewelry to Mary and her second best to Elizabeth. They are not quite sure what those were or why she described them like that because she went on to be much more specific in detailing what went to other women. Anyway I found it to be one of the more interesting talks so far. However most of my back of the bus friends slept through it.

From Leeds we headed out to Knole another castle home in Suffolk. It was in a state or restoration which the now call conservation in England. They no longer try to restore things but find ways to prohibit additional deterioration. This castle had some great pieces. They had period copies of Raphael’s cartoons that were painted to make patterns for the tapestries that hang in the Sistine chapel. They had 5 and they took up all the room of the huge great hall. There was also several prices of pure silver in the Lady’s bedchamber. Their was a desk, two bedside tables and several large size mirrors made fully of silver. They pointed out that moat similar pieces were melted down at some point to pay taxes or debts so very few silver furniture peices survive. Very gaudy but beautiful. I think they would have looked better spread throughout the rooms rather all in one room.

We also got to see some conservation in process they had a gallery set up in the old barn, modernized to provide perfect conditions for storage and work on all the pieces from the house. We saw and talked to 2 college students working on two Venician style plant or lamp stands. They were painted wood and had suffered from some type of worm rot. They discussed the different techniques whether you should use the same materials used in the original or use modern advanced materials that would have longer lasting effect. Each was from a different school with different views so each stand was being treated differently. Maybe in the next 50 years they will know what worked best.

Tonight’s dinner was in a barn at an pub in a small village close to Hever. Again proseco as we walked in but this time beer was also an option for dinner. The food was delicious. I had sausage and mashed potatoes and my first bake well tart. Not a big fan of cherries but the cake potion was great. Much better than the sponge cake I fixed for book club.

It was not a late evening but we were super tired and went straight to bed after returning to the hotel. We have to pack up to leaveHeverin the morning and I don’t want to go. I think I could stay here forever.