It is often interesting to find out whether people have travel goals based on a specific theme. Some may like to tick off popular theme parks in different countries; or climb the highest peaks or fulfill their lives dining at Michelin starred restaurants.
To sum up our travel preferences, we lean towards ancient or medieval history with a passion for UNESCO listed monuments - castles, palaces and historical spots of great battles or events. Why? Because we grew up in Australia and you become curious for the sites that don't exist back home.
Windsor Castle
One Saturday, we were accompanied by our Norwegian visitors - Olie's sister Michelle and her boyfriend Marius; on a day-trip to Windsor Castle. The day's itinerary originally included a couple of hours at nearby Legoland - with discount entry vouchers obtained from reading the Co-op supermarket catalogue. We noted that spending 10+ GBP in a single transaction entitled you to a discount voucher booklet that included 2-1 vouchers at Legoland. Persistence is also key, as Olie and Michelle ended up educating the supermarket employees about the special offer with Olie having to run home to get the catalogue to show the manager. All this fuss when advertising for the offer was being played on the supermarket PA system.
Windsor Castle is a short 50 minute train journey from London Waterloo station. We took advantage of the Group Save 4 ticket where 4 people travel for the price of 2; and rail + castle entrance combination tickets to save 30 GBP. This kind of simple 'tourist' research can help save a lot of money whilst travelling.
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| Our first train ride to the English countryside |
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| Our Norwegian visitors - Marius and Michelle |
In the end we didn't have time to visit Legoland - as we were thoroughly occupied by Windsor Castle's rich history. It is definitely worth a visit. Unfortunately, not many photos have been included in this blog as photos are prohibited in the most ornate rooms and of the Queen Anne dollhouse - an enormous collection of miniature household items of such detail down to chamber pots, linen, roses and even snails.
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| Windsor Castle |
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| When the Queen's standard (flag) is flying, she is in residence |
The audio handset helped us to understand the castle's history, including its 11th century foundations, use as a royal residence and the devastating impact of the 1992 fire that resulted in a £36 million repair bill.
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| Brother and sister photo |
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| Windsor castle is on a very busy airline flight path |
Our main travel tips for visiting Windsor Castle include:
* Buying your tickets online / in advance and then ensuring you get into the correct queue so that you don't accidentally wait for a while when you could have walked straight in.
* Ensure you leave enough time to visit the Queen Anne dollhouse - as there may be separate queues to enter this building.
* Take the time walk through the gardens and the town of Windsor - as it is very picturesque on a nice Summer day.
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| Michelle and Marius on the bridge over the Thames |
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| A beautiful English summer day |
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| Interesting car driving passed us in Windsor |
Leeds Castle
A day trip out to Kent on a sunny Summer day led us to pretty Leeds Castles. To our surprise and despite its name, this castle did not exist anywhere near the city of Leeds. The site comes with a packet of history that is very well explained via visitor signs inside the castle. For instance, in the 13th century the castle was the favourite residence of King Edward I; and then it changed hands many times until purchased by an American heiress.
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| Leeds Castle |
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| Beautiful gardens |
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| Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon lived in Leeds Castle |
Whilst the present building is more modern than the original structure; it still retains all the romantic features of a fairy-tale castle - a moat, drawbridges and a falconry show.
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| Leeds Castle and moat |
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| Picture perfect as if from a storybook |
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| An entertaining falcon show |
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| Residents from the aviary |
Dover Castle
The second part of our weekend road-trip involved a journey further east to Dover - one of the main ports for ships leaving England for France and home of the famous white chalk cliffs.
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| The port and cliffs |
Dover Castle was regarded by Olie as a 'real castle' (as opposed to grand country house with towers made of brick) as it had a military purpose, built as part of England's defences against sea invaders during the era of King Henry II and most recently in World War II as evidenced by an extensive network of tunnels.
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| The Castle Keep is over 900 years old |
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| Dover Castle, looking over the Channel to France |
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| Recreations of how the castle was used during times of war |
Dover Castle is the largest castle in England and has history back to Roman times with one of the 'lighthouses' dating from this era still in existence on the site.
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| The site as viewed from the Keep, including the Roman tower |
A visit to the castle provides visitors with an insight into medieval life, as many of the rooms such as the kitchen, throne room and great hall have been decorated to the medieval style. There were also actors dressed in traditional clothing wandering around the castle to add a level of authenticity.
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| A medieval kitchen |
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| The Lord's bedroom |
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| Piper in period costume entertaining the tourists |
Canterbury Cathedral
On the way back to London we stopped off at Canterbury Cathedral - the World Heritage Listed site that is also a place of pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket, archbishop who was murdered by King Henry II in 1170AD.
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| Side view of the Cathedral |
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| Walking through the Cloisters |
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