Coastal castles

Today Mom and I went to Dover and Walmer castles and had a great time!

East to West

It's been another busy week, so I'll just go chronologically, beginning with this photo of Nick operating a cannon in the Medieval Tunnels at Dover Castle on Monday. The weather was CRAZY that morning--lots of wind and rain.

Later that day we went to Walmer Castle, and the weather wasn't crazy anymore, but we did have to evacuate the castle and wait for the Deal Fire Department to let us back in!

Tuesday we went to an old mansion house, Kirby Hall. It's partially roofless, but it was beautiful. We especially loved all the peacocks wandering around.
Wednesday we went to Stonehenge, then to Stockton (where our ancestor was a vicar in the church there in the 1500s), then to Bath. It rained heavily all day Wednesday; we got soaking wet early and didn't get dry until we got home at 10:30 PM! This is the heel stone at Stonehenge. I think it looks like a thumb. (Notice my umbrella going crazy.)

Here Nick is standing in the Bath Abbey--amazing ceiling! We've alreay mentioned Audley End house a few times on the blog, but Nick and I went there Friday. It was beautiful! Saturday we went back to London and visited many cool sites, including the grave of Karl Marx. We also visited the British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone and other great art and artifacts.

Punting, Castles, Mansions

Earlier this week we punted the Cam in Cambridge! We each took turns punting, and it was lots of fun! Jacob was fabulous at punting--a natural, actually. The rest of us weren't too bad either, but it's not easy. It's definitely an activity we're excited to do whenever someone visits. Cambridge is beautiful anyway, but the scenery from the river is spectacular!

Saturday we drove to Dover. We went to Dover Castle and the Secret Wartime Tunnels (read about our first Dover Castle visit here), and we also visited Walmer Castle and Deal Castle, both near Dover. Walmer Castle was originally built by Henry VIII as a coastal defense, but it has been the residence of the Lords Warden since 1708. We were fascinated at the fusion of medieval castle and classy mansion. We also enjoyed the extensive gardens.

Deal Castle was similar in design to Walmer (it was also built by Henry VIII), but instead of having been converted into a gorgeous residence, it's a creepy old castle. We walked a few very dark, scary passages and were glad to see daylight when we emerged. We enjoyed the variety of our day and the fact that we saw 3 very different castles.

Sunday we had a picnic at Audley End House & Gardens (which we had also previously visited--read here). The house and grounds were amazing, and we enjoyed seeing a cricket game on the lawn. We're not too sure about the rules, but we were excited to observe a few minutes of a cricket game.

We'll be sad to see Emily and Joel leave Tuesday; we've had a great time having them visit. Since they're the fist to visit us here, we asked them to rate the guest accommodations at our house. Hopefully their review will be informational for any of you who are thinking about visiting.

"The bed felt like it had been assembled by an angel" ~Joel

"Encourage the hostess to bake you one of her famous American apple puddings." ~Joel

"Sitting on the toilet was like floating on the ocean waves." ~Emily

Out of 4 stars, how would you rate the accommodations overall? "Four and a half" ~Emily

Dover

Saturday we drove to Dover to see the famed white cliffs and Dover Castle. The castle was built in the 1180s by Henry II. The keep is surrounded by 2 rings of wall fortifications, and the whole thing is massively impressive!

I took the photo below from on top of the castle keep. This is a Saxon church and, to the right, one of the most complete Roman lighthouses in all of Europe.

The castle and grounds are beautiful, but the highlight was the tour of the Secret Wartime Tunnels, dug deep into the white cliffs on the castle grounds. There are tunnels from Medieval times, the Napoleonic Wars, and a set of World War II tunnels, which are very extensive. There was even a complete, functioning underground hospital there during the War! We were very impressed with our tour guide Mary, who managed to tactfully discuss the Napoleonic Wars and WWII with a very diverse group that included Germans, French and, of course, 2 crazy Americans. She did a great job. (No photography was allowed in the tunnels, but I snapped this photo of Jacob in the entry to the tunnels, which is one of the WWII tunnels.)

The tunnels are also reportedly haunted, but we didn't see any ghosts. And our s-i-l Melissa will be delighted to know that the video we watched during the tour ended with the song "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover."

We went from the castle grounds to the white cliffs, which are breathtaking! We're excited to cross the Channel to France sometime and view the cliffs from the English Channel. We experienced gale-force winds while walking along the cliffs, which have no railing. We're glad we didn't fall!

(Up next on English Patience ... a virtual tour of our house! Stay tuned.)