Days Out in Kent

It's fair to say that the summer holidays are long and daunting, particularly if you have little ones that need a wee bit more entertaining than my two teenage girls. That said, even teens need to be dragged out of their rooms from time to time for a good dose of vitamin D. I find it's easier to persuade them out if you tell them they can bring a friend. This may sound like an expensive day out, but some years ago I took the plunge and joined English Heritage as a Family Member. It's paid for itself so many times over, because my membership allows me to get a shed load (OK, just a car load) of kids in free. This was particularly helpful, when Miss D wanted to take a friend to Dover Castle for History GCSE revision. We have some fantastic places to visit for days out in Kent, and a lot of the English Heritage sites put on special days for the school holidays.

Back in the Spring we had a fantastic day out with our membership. I've lived in Kent my whole life, but had never realised just how close Deal and Walmer are. So one sunny Spring day, we headed out to both Castles. We started at Deal, which is one of Henry VIII's coastal fortresses, he was quite particular about protecting his kingdom from invasion, which is understandable really and thanks to Henry, we can now have a good old nose around.

Days Out in Kent - Deal Castle

 It's worth noting that Deal is not a big castle, but we had the most amazing time exploring, inside. There is a central room with lots of interactive things for the kids to do. From here you can go up a staircase to a warren of corridors and other rooms which are great for playing hide and seek in. Yep even our party of three teens and two adults had fun running around those rooms, hiding and jumping out on each other...actually, I'm not sure how we weren't escorted off the premises, but we weren't so that's good, because, go down to the basement level and there are some fabulous tunnels for even more fun! I would say, if you are taking little ones into these dark passages, hold on to them, they are very dark in places.

During the summer holidays Deal have a Minecraft Building Workshop running on 17th and 18th August, so if your little person is as obsessed with Minecraft as my youngest used to be, this could be just the thing for them.

And don't forget, being a coastal defence, the castle is quite literally, on the sea front, so once you're done at the castle, why not head to the beach for a walk along the promenade, a picnic and a paddle. You really can make a full day of it.

Days Out in Kent - Deal Seafront

Alternatively, you can do what we did, head back to the car and drive a few minutes up the road to Deal's sister castle, Walmer which is the official home of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, something else I was not aware of. I was learning a lot this weekend. Walmer is a bigger, grander and more complete Castle, with the most fabulous gardens, not to mention a tearoom serving the best cheese scones I've had for a while (the mister and I do love a cheese scone).

Days Out in Kent - Walmer Castle

We spent a long time here, particularly in the gardens, which in the spring were filled with the most beautiful tulips. I'm planning on heading back soon to take in the summer blooms and to take some photos of the beautiful pond in the Queen Mother's Garden. When we were there, the pond was full of tadpoles and it was fascinating to watch them.

Days Out in Kent - Walmer Castle, Spring Tulips

The gardens are immense and it was quite busy when we were there, but if you're taking a picnic, I did spot a few people who very sensibly retreated to the moat, which was quieter and an absolute joy to explore and to photograph the castle from a different angle.

Days Out in Kent - Walmer Castle 

The mister loved it down in the moat with his flash camera, and whilst he was busy photographing anything that was still for more than a second, I had a wander round and discovered a cute little doorway, which reminded me of 'The Secret Garden,' hands up who else remembers that one.

Days Out in Kent - Walmer Castle, Doorway

Again, I need to head back in the next few weeks to see how stunning this looks with all that foliage looking healthy and green. I think it will remind me of my primary school days and reading that book even more. I must add, that it wasn't a secret garden beyond, but it was still a lovely, green and peaceful garden. Definitely a great place for kids to run and explore in. There is also a Natural Play Trail for the kids, but seeing as we had three teens with us, we didn't explore that, they may have done, we lost them several times, thank goodness for mobile phones!

We really did have an amazing day. I would suggest, if you do both castles in the same day, it's worth doing it in the order we did, otherwise your little ones may be too tired to enjoy the tunnels beneath Deal Castle. Also, I hadn't realised how close the two are, so if you're up for it, maybe picnic on the beach and then take the short walk to Walmer Castle (Google Map Directions assures me it is less than ten minutes).

Sadly this is not a paid/ sponsored post, but I would thoroughly recommend researching English Heritage sites in your local area, or areas you are planning on visiting, as it may be worth your while joining. My membership allows me to get up to six under 16's in free (I've never been crazy enough to want to take more than three teens out with me though). Take a look at their website to check membership prices and benefits here. It's not cheap, but if you make good use of it, it really does pay for itself and can make the long summer holidays a little bit easier.

Days Out in Kent - Dover Castle

And before I finish, don't forget, Dover Castle, which is a whole day out in it's own right. We go regularly and it is a great day out for all ages. If you're very lucky as we were last visit you can see all the way to France! They also put on some great events during the holidays so do check those out by clicking this link.

Which just leaves me to say, have a wonderful summer holiday, we'll be looking at some more days out for you very soon.