Castle

A trip over to Walmer Castle today  proved to be very interesting. About 27 miles from Greatstone self & Kas set off about midday. Neither Stan nor Tara were particular about going and as dogs aren't allowed in it was convenient to leave Ida with them today. The original castle dates back to Henry VIII as a coastal defence for the South coast, Deal Castle a few miles away is similar. Walmer is the home of the Lord Wardens of the Cinque Ports. This office has been held by such luminaries as the 1st Duke of Wellington (in fact he died here), William Pitt the Younger, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Robert Menzies and the Queen Mother. Beautiful gardens but all a bit waterlogged today so we didn't really explore them.
The guides in these historic buildings are always interesting to talk to, if  in this case alittle difficult to get away from, I got told the same thing twice by one who appeared in another room after we'd left him! Beautiful views from the battlements over towards the Goodwin Sands and some very impressive cannon as well  though I'm not sure whether they are original to the castle, they only fired in anger at Englishmen! Just after the end of the English Civil War there was a resurgence of support for the King and both Walmer & Deal declared for the Royalists. However after putting down Royalist insurgency at Maidstone a Parliamentary force led by Colonel Nathaniel Rich invested the castle which surrendered after a month.
Had a very nice cream tea with very fresh scones. They also catered for Kas with vegan scones but no vegan cream. The castle was closing up then so our visit ended, one to re visit I think.