Royal Progress day 17

Day 17 Anne of Cleves For The last day we spend together we started at Anne of Cleves house in Lewes. It’s a very small place that was given to her as part of the divorce settlement. But we had a special interactive talk by Hands on History. For the last two weeks we have seen artefacts, books, armour and weapons but always either behind glass or beyond touching behind a rope. Hands on History offers the chance to touch feel look smell and even taste the real thing. We were treated to an entertaining, educational and enthralling talk given by Martin Patterson. He showed us armour & weapons from the Tudor period and I even got to put on a helmet with chain mail attached. There was also fabrics, linens, leather, horn, wood, nothing was left to waste in the everyday lives of the Tudor people. There were pots with lanolin, wool, sinew and even stinging nettle string, All useful items in days gone by. A special mention must be made of a prayer book dating from 1385. It was hand written by monks on vellum and just holding an old book with it’s aged pages a bit worn was a it has been thumbed many times in it’s life time. After a hearty local lunch we set off to London by train for the final night in England at the Gore Hotel Kensington.

Royal Progress day 16

Day 16 Leeds castle and Lewes Leeds castle in Kent is perhaps the most beautiful and romantic looking castles in the whole world. Set on two little islands surrounded by water evokes the medieval period with very little imagination. The castle is set in the middle of 500 acres of parkland and gardens, it is a most beautiful surroundings. King Henry VIII owned the place and stayed here on his way to France in 1520, since then it has many different owners and is now owned by a charitable trust. The inside of the castle has been remodelled in the 1920’s and not to my taste have to say. They were setting the parklands up for a Bonfire fireworks display at the weekend so let’s hope it stays dry for the event. Our final drive of this tour is to the most southerly point on our Royal Progress. Lewes the county town of East Sussex. The town has many features, old buildings and a lot of History. Henry III lost the battle of Lewes in 1264 to Simon De Montfort and was forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, effectively creating the Parliament system we know today. In the Town museum there were a group of Ladies hard at work creating a tapestry of the event to be they had been working for over a year and they expect to finish by Christmas next year. We finished the day with a splendid curry meal at the Spice merchant Indian restaurant in Lewes.

Royal Progress day 15

Day 15 Dover On to the south coast today to see the magnificent Dover castle perched high on the famous white cliffs. It was very, very windy today and we had our breath taken away by some of the gusts. It was a clear day and we could see France 22 miles away. Dover castle is huge and it has been a defensive fort since Roman times. There are really five worlds in one at Dover castle. A Roman light house, still the highest Roman structure in England today, stands right next to a Saxon Church within a Saxon walled enclosure. There are medieval tunnels dating back to the early 1200’s and scene of the siege during the barons war of 1216. There are Napoleonic era tunnels that were used in WWII as a hospital and as the headquarters of one of the most famous periods in WWII, The evacuation of the entire British Army of 338,000 men from Dunkirk in Northern France. We visited the Hospital but did not have time to see the Dunkirk part of the network. There is an exciting new addition now, there are special guided tours of the Cold war tunnels beneath all the rest of the tunnel levels, I look forward to seeing these on a future planned visit. But it was the castle keep that we came to see today, a huge imposing building built by Henry II in 1180. The setting is for Henry in residence with tapestries,beds and furniture faithfully recreated and with the log fire blazing it gave you a real feeling of what it must have been like living in those times. Today being Halloween there were kids everywhere dressed as ghosts and ghouls. They were having fun flowing the ghost trail a series of character guides telling awful tales of ghosts and murder within the castle. On to the medieval village of Lenham to spend the night in and old Tudor coaching inn and right next door there is a fabulous old pub with oak beam and log fires. Our meal was stone steaks, yes slabs of raw meat delivered sizzling to your table on a very hot granite stone. You cook it yourself as you are sitting there, no orders to the chef just you and how you want it.