Tonbridge Castle

This is Tonbridge Castle. We went here on May Day Bank Holiday, 1999. The journey from Ashford took about an hour. The castle is in the town centre and is well sign-posted. It has a car park right outside next to a small park. We had to drive around the car park a few times before we got a space. Parking here is free on Sundays and Bank Holidays. We got our picnic things out of the car and went through the castle. The picture above is taken from the back not the front entrance. We sat on the grass outside - which would have been in the middle of the court yard in years gone by.

At first we thought that there was nothing else to do here but wander around the grounds. We found a Tourist Information Centre in one of the attached buildings. We took an adventure tour with headphones each. The story told us where to go and lead us around the castle. We were given a gold sovereign to get us into the Gatehouse Exhibition. We went down to the well, the basement store and the armoury - it was very cold in there. We then went upstairs and sat with the soldiers to listen to a video of the castle's history. We then went around the rest of the gatehouse into the chambers and the Great Hall. Watch out for the hidden guard. Without giving too much away - he made Daniel jump!

In the grounds there was a friendly squirrel who was on the look out for food. He came right up to our hands to check if we had anything for him. He was also jumping in and out of dustbins.

(Photo from guide book)