We took the National Express from Heathrow direct to Victoria Coach Station, a 40 min drive as opposed to a 1.5 hr tube ride with a walk at the end. The tours didn’t depart until 8:20, so we could have slept later and taken a later coach but at least we made it easily. We were heading off for different tours but planned to rendevouz back at the arrivals terminal of the coach station at 8pm when Jordan was due to arrive. We didn’t realize it was the day before the summer solstice, a day that would draw hundreds of Druids to Stonehenge. We headed off to Leeds Castle, a gorgeous gem of a castle restored to its former glory by Lady Bailey, an Anglo-American heiress to the Standard Oil fortune, who purchased the castle in 1926 when she was 27 and spent millions on restorations improvements.
She entertained lavishly, with guests such as Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, Mary Pickford, Winston Churchill, the glitteratti of her day. The house dates back to the 1200 when it was bought by Queen Eleanor of Castille. It was a house owned by many women. My favorite was Catherine of Valois, the widow of of Henry V who took up with a Welsh servant named Henry Tudor, causing a scandal at court. She had five children with him but they never married. Nonetheless, he is the progenitor of the Tudor line.
Henry Vlll dinning room
Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon used the house on their trips to the continent because it was a convenient stopping off point.
Today the house is filled with bouquets of fresh flowers and art that Lady Bailey collected all over the continent such as this Venetian lion that is said to bring good luck to all those who touch its nose.
This lovely woodwork was rescued from an English manor house that had to be auctioned off after WW1 because of the death of the heir and estate taxes.
The gardens are also lovely and the moat is home to a dozen or more black swans imported from Autstralia.
Next we headed to the white cliffs of Dover to see Dover Castle, which served as a center for the British command during WW11. You can see the caves that were built to be able to observe the war directly.
After that, we headed to Caterbury, but when we arrived, the Catherdral was closed for a ceremony celebrating the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. We did get to view the crypt beneath the cathedral, which was magnificent.
The grounds of the cathedral and the houses surrounding it were lovely.
Notice the carriage behind the tree, which holds two actors playing the emissaries from the Duke of Wellington announcing the victory at the battle of Waterloo. It was quite a ceremony, with a band, soldiers, dignitaries. The honorable Michael, Duke of York, a relative of the Queen, spoke.
Royal Ascot was also on, so the shop windows were filled with hats.
Next, we went to Greenwich.
We are standing to either side of longitude east/west line.
All the official measurements.
It started to rain as we descended the hill to our cruise back to London, so we didn’t get photos from the boat. The only glitch in the day was that when we made our way back to Victoria Coach Station where we had arranged to meet Jordan, we were told Premier coaches don’t drop off there, but along the street in front of the train station. We waited for a half-hour, wondering how we would find him since my phone had died. I decided to return to the coach station and saw him strolling casually up the street. He had been dropped off ten blocks away but knew to make his way back here to meet us. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the station for our coach back to Heathrow and our hotel.