Saturday I got up bright and early to start a 200 mile tour of four castles southeast of London. It turned out to be one of my favorite days so far!

First I headed to Scotney Castle, only recently opened to the public. It would be easy to never realize a little gem like this sits hidden in the English countryside.





My next stop was Bodiam Castle, straight out of a fairytale with its moat and perfect castle towers.





Hever Castle came next, and the grounds around this castle were some of the best I've seen. Many people seemed to pay the low garden access fee in order to bring picnics and sit in the gorgeous parks and let their kids play in the fun garden mazes.





Finally I stopped at Hampton Court Palace. If I hadn't already been to Hever Castle these would have been my favorite gardens, but something about Hever just seemed more intimate, Hampton was so formal. Still beautiful, of course!





There will be larger versions of these pictures and many more showing up on flickr when I'm home again with my beloved Photoshop, and I have more pictures from Sunday I hope to get up this week! I even have a work in progress to share - you didn't think I could make it five weeks without any crafting, did you??

Labels: photography, travel