Monday 27th April 2026

We rejoined English Heritage a couple of years back as I wanted to visit Dover Castle. I justified it by saying we could visit their other locations in the area and thus save money on the annual subscription.

Two years late, and three years of membership payments later, we were to visit Walmer Castle.

It was to be the warmest day of the year, and the castle's gardens at their Spring peak. The bonus was that its just a ten minute drive away.

Again, my brain and body had me awake at just gone five, though I did go back to sleep for an hour, and when I did stir, Jools had fed the cats and was out on a walk.

I made myself a coffee and checked on the world.

We sat on the patio for breakfast, enjoying the warm sun and light winds. The lawnmeadow is about to spring into colour, all over are rosettes and basal leaves of native flowers and plants.

We left for the castle at ten, and arrived shortly after ten fifteen, there were only a few other cars in the car park. We walked over the road and up the drive, showing our membership passes we were allowed in, over the drawbridge spanning the dry moat, and into the inner courtyard.

Being English Heritage, there were lots of plants for sale, at a great inflated price. We walk by and into the castle itself, once the residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the most famous of whom was the 1st Duke of Wellington, Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley.

Photography isn't allowed inside, so we walk to the back door and out to the bridge leading over the moat into the gardens.

A left turn brought us to the memorial garden of the Queen Mother, a large reflecting pool and a classical shelter. Usually there are dragonflies around here, but the season is yet young, so there were none to be seen.

Along a woodland walk, where although they looked splendid, the bluebells were the Spanish variety rather than our native English ones.

In the meadow, most of the Snake's Head fritillaries had gone over, but one was worth snapping, as ours at home failed this year, so the old wheelbarrow has now been scrapped.

The to The Broadwalk, laid out after the first world war, huge beds of flowers with large hedges to the rear, now cut in the popular "cloud hedges" style.

Still too early for much colour, but they looked wonderful with the hulk of the castle in the background.

Then to the walled garden, where most colour came from the huge variety of tulips and the fruit tree blossom.

I saw there was a café set up in one of the old greenhouses, so we go over and have an early cream tea: scone, butter, strawberry jam, clotted cream and tea.

We eat sitting outside, me in the shade of a parasol as the day was really heating up.

Our last station was the moat. Never water-filled, it is grassed with large beds around the castle, so we walked down the steep path and round the castle. I chased an Orange tip, but it failed to settle.

Once we were back in the garden, I asked should we go home?

We should.

So, we drive the ten minutes home, nothing much happened, except being in a train of cars following a small red Toyota that travelled no more than 35 mph.

Just as well we were not in a hurry.

And so back home, where I spent the afternoon reading Cameron Crowe's autobiography. Or most of it, sitting at the bottom of the garden in the sun.

He was washed up writing for Rolling Stone at the age of just 21, as the new young guns came through and demanded to write about punk, new wave.

It got chilly by five, so after feeding the cats we had a light supper. Me of some leftover chilli from the fridge, and Jools some more of her high protein breakfast which has been living in the fridge for five days.

It might just feed the five thousand.

The evening had football. Manchester Utd v Brentford. And was a good game, but I was tired and cold, so went to bed at half time with Utd winning 2-0.