The Castles and Gardens of Kent

Day 1

We board our private executive coach at our designated pick-up points, and en route to our hotel we the National Trust’s Ightham Mote in Kent, a superb moated manor house and garden, nestling in a sunken valley and dating from 1330. The main features of the house span many centuries and include the Great Hall and Tudor chapel with a painted ceiling. We continue to the 4* Bridgewood Manor Hotel on the outskirts of Chatham for a four-night stay on a half board basis.

Day 2

With our Blue Badge guide, we visit the English Heritage’s Dover Castle and Secret Wartime Tunnels, dating back to 1066 and one of the mightiest of fortresses in Western Europe. Guarding the Straits of Dover, the Castle occupies a site that has witnessed more than 2,000 years of history. This afternoon we visit the English Heritage’s Walmer Castle and Gardens, transformed from a Tudor castle into the elegant home and residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. The late HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother enjoyed many summers here.

Day 3

Our Blue Badge guide meets us at our hotel this morning and accompanies us throughout the day. Our guided walking tour of the UNESCO listed city of Canterbury takes in the city walls and includes a visit to the Cathedral, dating back to 597AD when St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great as a missionary, established his seat in Canterbury. In 1170 Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral and ever since the Cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims, as told famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's ‘Canterbury Tales’. Leeds Castle is our destination this afternoon. Set in 500 acres of beautiful parkland and offering over 1,000 years of history, the Castle has Norman foundations, a mediaeval gatehouse, a Tudor tower and a 19th century country house - all of which were substantially refurbished in the 20th century by the last private owner of the castle, Lady Baillie, the heiress to an American fortune.

Day 4

The National Trust’s Sissinghurst Castle Garden is our destination this morning with our Blue Badge guide. Developed around the surviving parts of an Elizabethan mansion, the gardens provide outstanding design and colour throughout the season. This afternoon we visit the National Trust’s Scotney Castle. The house was designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, while the romantic ruins of a medieval castle and moat are the focal point of the celebrated gardens featuring spectacular displays of rhododendrons, azaleas and kalmia.

Day 5

After checking out of our hotel, and en route home we visit Hever Castle and Gardens. Dating back to 1270 when the gatehouse, outer walls and the inner moat were first built, the Tudor manor house was constructed within the walls 200 years later by the Boleyn family, and this was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife. Taking carefully selected comfort stops en route we return back to our original pick-up points.