Cullens Online

An Interactive Twilight Experience.

19/01/2013 - A Snowy Day At Leeds Castle, England UK

Living in Otham, Kent means that I can easily visit the famous Leeds Castle, which is only about five minutes drive away from me. Since we had a bit of snow yesterday, me and my mom decided to go to Leeds Castle today to have a walk in the snow. We got a lot more then we bargained for!

Walking through the grounds of Leeds Castle is actually lovely. There is a lot of wildlife within the grounds and immediately upon entrance to the grounds, we were greeted by a number of peacocks, some huddling nearby the gift shop as it was cold. The peacocks are very tame and do not seem to be bothered by people at all. I always love seeing them, the males in particular as their feathers are a work of art in themselves. As we wondered through the grounds, we saw ducks, swans and all sorts of little birds etc. Most of them were fighting over the food that the wardens had laid down. It was pretty funny to see.

We decided to visit the actual castle today and it’s the first time in a long while I’ve actually been inside it. The castle itself is a strange mix of old tudor, historical rooms combined with more modern ones too. My preference is for the older stuff especially looking at King Henry VIII’s Banqueting Hall. It’s hard to believe that King Henry owned this castle so it was amazing to walk in rooms that he himself had been in. The later additions to the castle are also stunning. There are some truly beautiful rooms like the boardroom and the library. I have taken some photos of the interior of the castle and I will post these in another blog as I took quite a few!

What we didn’t count on today was having a free bird show. We were lucky enough to meet a wonderful young gray owl called Oreo (yes named after the cookie!). The falconers decided to display Oreo out today despite the weather and we all got up and close with this amazing bird. Oreo was completely calm and chilled out as he is used to so many visitors. He was just lapping up the attention and hell, why wouldn’t he? He was truly the star of the show. It was truly a lovely day at Leeds Castle and I hope to visit again shortly. I’d recommend visiting to anyone as there is something there for everyone.