It was early on in the summer holidays, the weather was beautiful, spirits were high so we decided last minute to go to the National Trust owned Bodiam Castle and we had such a lovely time, I know we’ll be returning. Bodiam Castle sits nestled down leafy country lanes near Robertsbridge, East Sussex. It has extensive grounds, activities for children (more on in school holidays), a fort to explore and castle ruins with interactive displays and demonstrations of medieval life. Visit their website here.
The children loved playing in and around this second world war bunker next to the car park, in fact I think it was their favourite bit! William liked playing war games with his Dad and Phoebe made it her house and showed me around each section proudly. Baby Daniel was happy in his carrier and had just learned to sit up at this point.
Next came the castle itself, with it’s impressive moat with loads of big carp who fight with the ducks for bread and titbits, you cross the bridge and there’s an amazing portcullis and gatehouse. You can climb up to the top of the castle which DH did with the older two but they weren’t mad keen on heights and were a little scared – I love going up high, I should have done it by myself!
An optical illusion
There’s lots of nooks and crannies to explore, with information to take in and medieval people in certain places doing live demos, and tour guides you can book.
After exploring the castle and having had our picnic earlier, we were feeling a bit hot and bothered so we had a much needed ice cream and rest. We found a lovely shady spot where we could sit in deck chairs with an amazing view of the rear of the castle and there was a sandpit that Phoebe loved and wooden skittles to play with and baby Daniel could have a break from being in the carrier.
Time to go, we walked round the path and time for one last play at the bunker and then one happy family returned home.
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13 Comments
This looks so awesome, really hope we get to visit, we’ve not visited a castle since a holiday in Wales years ago. Fab post x
September 5, 2015 at 6:03 pmThanks for taking a look x
September 5, 2015 at 6:03 pmWow, what a fantastic read! Beautiful photos, and even better memories being made! Suz x beauisblue.com
September 7, 2015 at 8:30 pmAw it looks lovely – the perfect family day out. Thanks for sharing on #justanotherlinky xx
September 9, 2015 at 5:04 pmThank you it was x
September 9, 2015 at 5:42 pmThis looks like a great place to visit. East Sussex isn’t too far for me – will have to look into going! #famjamlinky
September 10, 2015 at 1:45 amIt’s lovely that’s the second time I’ve been
September 10, 2015 at 6:31 amI love castles and even better if they have moats! It looks like a fabulous place to explore and the kids seem to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Love the photo of the 3 kids and you, that’s like our family photos! It’s almost impossible.
October 1, 2015 at 6:57 pmThanks for linking up your lovely day out to #Whatevertheweather 🙂 x
And that was the best one!
October 1, 2015 at 7:02 pmThis looks brilliant. We have loads of castles down in Cornwall but none that look like this. I love the optical illusion as well. That must have been so much fun to try and perfect. I’m glad you managed to get in a pic with the kids too. If you’re anything like me, you’re always the one behind the camera!! We realised the other day by going back through some old family photos that there are at least 5 Christmas’s where my mum isn’t in any photos!!!! So bad!
October 4, 2015 at 11:21 pmIt sounds like there is so much to do here. A must visit for sure! Thank you so much for linking to #whatevertheweather x
I try to get in more pictures now as I realised I was never in them, praise be to the selfie!
October 5, 2015 at 7:15 amOOOh, we LOVE a good castle at the moment! We have visited a couple local to us (we are in Manchester) but this one looks AMAZING. my son would Love this – sorry it’s not closer to use!
October 5, 2015 at 7:50 am#whatevertheweather
We’re lucky there’s quite a few relatively near us x
October 5, 2015 at 7:58 am