Leeds Castle

We feel so thankful to get another opportunity to visit the land of our ancestors. I don't know how accurate this is, but the ancestry.com DNA test estimates that Duff is 29% British and that I am 79% British. When we can, we like to visit the actual spots where our ancestors lived, which we did the second day of our trip.

But our first day in England we spent the afternoon at Leeds Castle in Kent. It was a royal residence during the Middle Ages and King Henry VIII transformed it for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

The extensive grounds are stunning, even in February, and are filled with many varieties of birds, especially swans. We had to walk quite a ways from the parking lot to get to the castle and got to meet some of the swans. They are very friendly.

The black swan is the symbol of the castle. It was introduced to England by Lady Baillie, the last owner of the castle, in the 1920s.

Our favorite room in the castle.

This maze was made from 2,400 yews. When Don was growing up he was enchanted by mazes and told me that he was going to put a maze in his backyard when he grew up. :-)

(photo via groupon.co.uk)

There is a really cool grotto underneath the maze.

(photo via leeds-castle.com)

What a lovely time we had. We met a friendly young man from Tillamook, Oregon (always fun to meet people from all over the world) and enjoyed the peaceful, serene beauty of the castle and its gardens.

Two more things I'm thankful for: Bob's expertise at driving on the left side of the road and our GPS.