I am a big fan of history and do enjoy walking around castles. There is something quite fun about looking around at ruins, especially those that use to look so daunting and impressive, but now have missing pieces, are no longer used, and are not up to current standards of living. I don’t often pass up an opportunity to share history with my children either, and with our National Trust cards in hand, I was excited to get along to some castles! One of the first on our list was Bodiam Castle, since it’s not that far from our home at all. This site end up being one of our favourite sites from the National Trust in Essex.
Bodiam Castle is described as a “quintessential English castle” which was built between 1380 and 1385 by Sir Edward Dallingridge and his wife, Elizabeth Dallingrdige. He was a very wealthy soldier, becoming Knight of Shire of Sussex and Warden of London – promoted by King Richard II. Bodiam Castle shows that wealth, even in it’s current state, giving a great look into what castles were aiming to be back then. This castle is up a slight hill from the carpark, with a large moat and a lot of land around it. Walking up the hill towards the castle is breath-taking. It’s quite a lovely castle from the back – seeing it’s reflection on the moat, which is full of clear water, is very lovely.
Bodiam Castle has a pillbox out front, from WWII, which is used for defence, in case the Nazi’s attack. Normally, you can explore this pillbox to see what the inside was like, but due to COVID restrictions, we could not at the time that we went. We did stop to talk about the building, before getting closer to the castle. It’s worth mentioning that Amelia wanted to be our photographer for the day, taking pictures of all of us, the castle, and anything we found interesting! We walked around the castle, stopping at the bench to have a snack – there are plenty of benches around if you need a rest, before continuing onto the front of the castle. This bit has a long path that allows you to enter the castle, so we are calling it the front.
Along the side path to the castle, there are some wooden statues and a knight statue, which is neat to see, but isn’t too important. When it came to going into the castle, we walked over the moat, which was full of different coloured, beautiful fish. Walking across the path, we also saw quite a few friendly ducks, then we were inside. Many of the towers were also closed, but we were able to walk around the first floor, stick our heads in some of the different rooms, find a hidden well, and read a bunch of signs that told us about various rooms in the castle. Kai seemed the most interested in these signs, but we took turns reading them out, learning about which areas use to have kitchens in them, how the servants quarters were, and where the knights lived. It’s great that there are signs like this, as it really brings history and learning to the castle.
The kids had a great time walking around, exploring the different rooms and seeing the inside of the castle. Once we had explored all of the castle, which included a few sets of stairs, we went to the little cafe that they have. This cafe serves sandwiches and hot drinks. We all got hot chocolates and sat at one of the tables that are out in the court yard, before heading back around the other side of the castle. The whole explore took a little over an hour, though I am sure it could have lasted longer if the towers were open. It’s still a beautiful walk, especially for those interested in a bit of history.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!
Wow! I would love to visit this castle together with my brother! He is a fan of middle-aged architecture and buildings!
Great how many photos you added! Really nice post! ♥
Glad you liked Dann’s post!