Leeds Castle?
Is Leeds Castle a good day trip from London?
Richard
NYC, USA 1/12/08
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On a scale of zero to Versailles, how would you rate it? I'm not worried about the logistics of getting there; I'm concerned about the quality of the building, art, furnishings, etc.
thanks
Yes, Leeds Castle is worth a day trip. It dates from A.D. 857, originally constructed of wood, it was rebuilt in 1119 in its present stone structure. It is on two small islands in the middle of a lake. It has a superb collection of fine are, furniture and tapestries. You can see the beautiful gardens, the wildwood garden has rare swans, geese and ducks. I really enjoy the Culpeper Garden. There is also a maze there. Go and enjoy.
Leeds is as lovely day trip from London and you can combine it with Dover. The grounds are beautiful and as we all know Leeds is the Lovliest Castle in Britain...but...The tour of the castle is guided and you aren't allowed to wander about alone or at your own pace. You're in ... you're out. Everyone was very polite but I almost got the impression that we were a little in the way...It's a great example of what an American with a great deal of money can do to make herself a home in England. I didn't think there was anything remarkable in terms of art.. As a person who, when in England, sometimes judges her day by the quality of her cream tea, I thought theirs was pretty darn good.
Don't forget, it has a dog collar museum. :)
We combined a visit to Leeds Castle with a visit to Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home.
I was planning on going to Chartwell on my next trip to London - but I was going to use public transportation. Is it easy to use for this trip? Also any thoughts on using public transportation to see Leeds Castle on the same day trip? Thanks
We plan on going to Leeds and Chartwell this July by car from the southern coast of England close to Bournemouth. As always, my husband will have me as a navigator and normally we are a good team. With having to drive on the other side of the road and entering round abouts in a different manner, how difficult is driving in the area? Keep traveling!
Answering Charlene: Many American drivers in the UK pay the extra for an automatic (you have to request one) so they don't have to learn to shift with their left hand, and many arrange to have a GPS, either bring their own (with appropriate map downloaded) or rent one with the car.
Answering Kevin: Here's the Chartwell website, it's in the country thus getting there takes a bit of planning, see the details here: Chartwell website
And here's the Leeds website, see the directions for reaching it by train or "coach" (aka as bus): Leeds website
We are doing a house/car swap so we won't haven't the alternative for an automatic transmission but are considering buying a GPS to take with us. Is the area for Leeds and Chartwell heavily congested with traffic and are the sights well marked on the highways?
Charlene: Answering your last question, these two locations are in the country but it is likely you will drive in some amount of traffic in order to get from the place you are staying to these locations. Assuming you haven't driven in England before, it's not as easy to find locations as it is here, some would say significantly more difficult. Here in the last year we're 100 to zero in favor of GPS for driving rental cars in Europe. By that I mean, we have two groups of people here: people who have used a GPS in Europe and would make great efforts to get one on a subsequent car trip; and people who have not yet used a GPS in Europe and wonder what all the adulation is about. We have not yet had a report of someone who has used a GPS before in Europe and then says it wasn't worth it, I wouldn't bother to get one on a subsequent trip. Of course many of the people here drive rental cars in Europe without a GPS, but they appear to be those who have not yet tried it.however, buying a GPS or renting one per day, is a significant cost and that makes the decision of whether to do without one more difficult to make.