Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle is situated in Maidstone, Kent, South East England.

The first castle was built in the XIIth century by a descendant of William the Conqueror, later it passed in royal hands, being held by medieval widowed queens. Queen Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII lived here and Elisabeth I was imprisoned in the castle before her coronation. Later the castle passed in private ownership, the last owner of the castle was Lady Baille, who established the Leeds Castle Foundation. It was opened for the public in 1976.

View of the Castle from the hot-air balloon... yes, I was flying up there... :-)

The Castle is a gem: it is beautiful, elegant and friendly with amazing rooms, beautiful decorations, interesting paintings and lovely flower bouquets in the windows. You can see different epoques as you go around, starting from the Norman wine cellar and going through the old castle and than passing to the new castle, ending with the last owners drawing rooms.

The moat

Inside the castle

There is a beautiful park surrounding the castle, with interesting plants, trees and flowers.

In the garden

As Lady Baille loved the birds, she asked garden designers to create a duckery where now hundreds of wild birds live, as white swans, Canadian geese, ducks and black swans, the symbol of the castle, imported from Australia by Lady Baille.

Swans

The Aviary house different species of exotic birds, as parrots, toucans, ibises, cranes...

Parrots in love...

You can also see a falconry display, with majestic predator birds, like vultures, falcons, owls, eagles and hawks. The demonstrations give a fantastic insight into these wild birds life and behavior.

I got it!

Beautiful eyes...

You can also try to get lost in the maze and the grotto or to see the dog collar museum or the vineyard or just walk along the pathway and enjoy the sight of the small stream and the giant rhubarbs...

Giant rhubarb

or to admire the smell of the the giant magnolia...

Giant magnolia

or to follow a duck family swimming and to see the reflections of the sky in the lake ...

Reflections in the lake

Bees and flowers - Méhecskék és virágok

Yesterday I was walking in the cemetery, which is like a nice, quiet park. There are awesome blooming trees and bushes and beautiful spring flowers all around. And bees... Here I show you some... They were not very keen on posing for me, they were more interested in searching for flowers and their nectar, but I succeed to take some photos of them.

Tegnap kint jártam a temetőben, ami olyan mint egy szép, csendes park. Most tele van csodálatos virágzó fákkal és bokrokkal és szebbnél szebb tavaszi virággal. És persze méhecskékkel... Íme egy néhány... Nem igazán álltak modellt nekem, sokkal inkább érdekelte őket a virágok keresése és nektárgyűjtés, de azért néha sikerült őket elkapni.

Here you can see some, having a feast in the flower.

Itt is van egy néhány, éppen lakmároznak a virágban.

Violets - Ibolyák

In the garden of the Reverend the violets are blooming, it's like a violet-field. Every spring a part of the garden turns blueish - violet and it is surrounded by the adorable smell of the flowers. I went there this afternoon and asked him to let me in the garden to take the pictures. I don't know which photo to post, as I took about 30 and I like all of them. Maybe this one... Or maybe an other one... I don't know... :-)

A református pap kertjében kinyílott az ibolya, egy egész mezőnyi. Minden tavasszal a kert egy része kékes színben pompázik és körülötte csodálatos illat terjeng. Délután odamentem és megkértem a papot, hogy bemehessek a kertbe, hogy lefényképezzem az ibolyákat. Nem is tudom, melyik képet tegyem ide ki, mert lett vagy 30 és mindenik nagyon tetszik. Talán ez az egyik legjobb. Vagy mégse... Nem is tudom...