Hello again from London. It’s hard to believe that we are a week into our latest adventure, and the grand plan for a daily update on the blog has been revamped due to faulty wireless connections and outright laziness on the part of the editor. To update, briefly, we completed our four day tour of southern England late Thursday after a marathon schedule that took us to Bath, throught the Cotswalds, on to Dover, Cantebury, and back to London.
Wednesday, we toured the home of Winston Churchill, Chartwell which is in Kent. This was a 5 star attraction for Charlie given his fascination with all things related to Churchill. Later, we traveled to Sussex where we toured the breathtaking gardens of Scotney Castle and, later, the ruins of Bodiam Castle which dates back to the 1385. We spent the night in a lovely old country inn (Claverton Country House) in Sussex. On Thursday morning, we headed out early for the seaside town of Hastings, then on to the nearby town of Battle which was the site of the Battle of Hastings. For those of us who are a bit “foggy” when it comes to military history, this was the battle where William became William the Conquerer after defeating nasty King Harold. This is also the battle that is depicted in the Bayeaux Tapestry. Next, we made our way to Dover with it’s white, chalk cliffs and paid a brief visit to Dover Castle. After another 20 minute drive through the countryside, we found ourselves in the charming town of Canterbury. Sadly, each and every one of these sites deserves far more time than we had available, and in the end, we found ourselves practically running from one site to the next. We ended the day at Leeds Castle, a gorgeous castle which was privately owned (by an American woman) until just a few years ago. Again, the home was magnificent; however, the gardens were the major attraction for Charlie and I. If you want to see more photos, just click on the link http://gallery.me.com/tjmckay508 and look for the albums titled Bath & Cotswolds and Chartwell & Bodiam (which is still a work in progress).
Meanwhile, a photo from the garden at Scotney Castle.
Beautiful!!
Thanks for sharing.