Leeds Castle Interiors
A castle has been on this site, in Kent, since 1119 and has been used by a number of royalty including Edward I and Henry VIII. The castle was purchased by Lady Baillie in 1926 and was used for a number of worthy purposes including a hospital for airmen during WWII.
In 1974 it was left to the Leeds Castle Foundation to be preserved for the benefit of the public. The history (Wiki) is here, castle/events website here, grounds/moat/lake/gardens here, falconry display here and the flower festival is here.
The name “Leeds” seems to have the original meaning of loud or rushing water. Hence there is a Leeds village nearby and another Leeds in the north of England.
This fellow is carrying a pole axe which was used to penetrate armour, quite often the opponent’s helmet. Hence the expression, being pole-axed.
I’m sure you could play a board game on that.
Henry VIII and it looks like he left his tankard behind.
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I’m not sure whether this is a charming guardian or a psychopath in a skirt. I suppose the defining question is; would I want him at the top of my stairs on dark night ?
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And, Richard II. We all know what happened to him.
Thanks for the visit and ~
Falconry at Leeds Castle
17 pics. A Harris Hawk waits pensively for the launch signal. That beak means business. You can click twice for a better view.
“Ain’t I awesome”.
The trainer sends a morsel into the air using an elastic catapult. A little to the right of the hawk is a distant seagull and just below is the morsel. The hawk now has folded wings for the dive.
And the flyby with trophy.
“Nothing to see here, move along now. Ahh, with fava beans and a nice bottle of Chianti”.
A victory lap.
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“I’m firm but fair and you will applaud”. And they did.
The owl, the trainer said, had a short attention span and was easily distracted. He also said they were “thick”.
“He said what”.
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“Right, I’ll have your scraggles off”.
“I am, in fact, wise and dignified and I’ll murgle anyone who says otherwise”.
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Meanwhile, several gulls were scriking and showing off by making feint dives at the hawks. But, they carefully kept their distance. The hawks disdained any interest. After all, one does not converse with one’s food.
This little miss is a North American Kestrel weighing in at a mere 4 ounces. She was so fast on the wing, that the only photographs I have, are where she used to be. Even the gulls were bemused and kept their distance.
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Falcons, we are informed, will only fly free and return if they are happy with their conditions. They also live twice as long as in the wild. So, everybody’s happy. Yay . 🙂
There are more falcons including an amazing peregrine here.
Tweet and thanks for the visit.
Freed From Time 