What is the best castle in Kent?

[5foot5]

And why?

DH and I will be having a short break in Kent next month.

We like walks so have a few of those planned. We also want to look around Canterbury and will probably visit the coast. In addition we would like to go to a castle. I have read that Leeds Castle is very good. Also Dover and Hever. However, we don't want to spend the whole week doing castles so we are trying to work out which would be the best of the bunch. If you are going to do one castle in the county which should it be?

Oh and if anybody has other suggestions for things that might be worth a look please share!

We are late 50s / early 60s. It will be just us (i.e. DC grown up) We like walking and having a spot of lunch.

Thanks.

If you don’t already have it it might be worth getting National Trust membership for your trip. There are many NT places worth visiting in Kent, including Bodium castle. Knole house, Chartwell, Ightham mote, Emmetts, Scotney castle plus some other smaller places.

If you’re not going for a while, book lunch at The Sportsman at Seasalter, then walk to Whitstable along the coast.

we go into Kent a lot. Favourite places include Igtham Mote and Chartwell, Walmer Castle, Penshurst Place, Leeds Castle. They're spread all over Kent, though!

We usually go to Hythe for the beach.

Dover, the wartime tunnels are brilliant

We are NT members so I will look in to all those mentioned properties.

Getting intrigued now by these wartime tunnels in Dover. I hadn't heard of those before, they do sound well worth a visit.

We are going for a week. With all the information I have got on here it sounds like we will easily have enough to do. Thanks everybody!

OP, don't know if you're interested in churches, but there are loads of beautiful churches in Kent - the ones on and around Romney Marsh are particularly worth a look. If you have Simon Jenkins' book, stick it in the car - you'll be tripping over interesting churches every 5 minutes!

Touring the romney Marsh churches and stopping off at a pub on the way for lunch is a great day out. Fairfield and Brookland are my favourites.

There's Sissinghurst Castle too - less a castle, more of a garden, but beautiful. You could combine that with Scotney if you started early.

Leeds is beautiful. Just stunning.
You'll trip over gorgeous villages everywhere, and the best fish I have ever had in my life was in Whitstable.
Herne Bay is like something out of time, fascinating in its time stopped in the mid 70s feel about it.

Bodiam is not in Kent people! (East Sussex)

Leeds Castle and Hever are both lovely, small and intimate and do-able in one day as fairly close together.

Dover Castle gets my vote, the tunnels and a walk across the cliffs to Walmer Castle. Also Ramsgate tunnels then walk along the beach at low tide to Broadstairs for icecream at Morellis. Margate for the Turner, the shell grotto, the newly opened chalk caves and cocktails at The Sands Hotel. Also if you happen to like taxidermy (bit random) Quex Park is the place to go.

Try to fit in Penshurst Place with its lovely gardens, and Knole House with its deer park. Knole is in Sevenoaks so a good place for lunch.

Whitstable is good for lunch/dinner and general interest.

"Dover Castle gets my vote, the tunnels and a walk across the cliffs to Walmer Castle"

If you do this (and it's a LONG walk), don't miss Deal Castle. I think it's much nicer than Walmer, I love the place.

Drive though. Do Deal, then Walmer. Down the coast to Samphire Hoe (you can only get to it from the southbound side). , then do Dover Castle on a different day because it's huge and you need a whole day to do it properly with all the tunnels.

I know what PP means about monetised atmosphere of Leeds/ Hever, but Hever i know well and is lovely. If you can go when no kids etc it’s very peaceful. The gardens are spectacular.

If you do like a garden go to Great Dixter. Nymans is Surrey is a NT property with stunning late borders. Most places already mentioned I agree with; Marle Place and Pashey Manor are also both worth checking out.

Ightham Mote is my favourite, do go there, it’s NT and you can easily combine with Chartwell or Knole. Sissinghurst Castle Gardens are glorious and there are good walks there, the barn restaurant is nice too.

Just in to East Sussex the Autumn colours can be spectacular at Scotney and Bateman’s is very close by. Good walking at both and at Bewl reservoir just down the road from Scotney. The Boathouse Bistro there is good for lunch.

Just an update as we are now back.

We opted for Dover Castle in the end and it was a great choice with plenty to see, what with the Great Tower and the tunnels and everything. We also did the White Cliffs walk which was probably the best day - we even saw a spitfire!

We are NT members but it turned out that most NT properties were a bit too far away from where we were staying. Visited Canterbury, Sandwich, Whitstable and Deal and also Howletts Wildlife Park.
Very nice week.