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Layer Marney Tower

Layer Marney Tower is a crumbling old relic of a building about 10 miles north of Maldon in Essex, England. It looks a bit like this:

Layer Marney was built by Henry, the first Lord Marney, in the 1500’s. He died in 1523, and he has a handsome looking tomb:

The tomb is situated inside the Church of St. Mary the Virgin - seen here from the top of one of the 80ft towers:

Of course, churches also provide some other great photo opportunities. Here’s an underside view of the bell pulling rope as it goes up into the bell tower:

As ever, with churches this old, there were also some nice stained glass windows. Here’s one dedicated to a family of Layer Marney from years gone by:

Stained Glass Window, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Layer Marney, Essex, England.

Churches also have their fair share of strange carvings as well. This is the lectern. It seems to have a Comic American Eagle carved on it? :

And like many a old rambling ruined castle/tower in England, Layer Marney also had it’s own fair share of “Old Deers”…..

And this old dear was also spotted posing for the camera! :

Apart from the tower buildings and the church, Layer Marney has some nice outside views as well. It even labels them for you!:

Another view from the top of Layer Marney Tower looks like this - overlooking the green maze and gardens:

What I like about places like Layer Marney is that these early architects didn’t really care about what people would think about their gateposts etc in the future. What do you think about this one, eh? :

If their ever was any great religious events over the years at Layer Marney Tower, I don’t really know. But, it did have it’s own burning bush!:

Layer Marney Tower is a very photogenic place. Inside the main tower building, (where they were trying to flog bottles of locally made non-alcoholic wine…… as one tourist remarked - “Non-alcoholic wine? That’s like having decaffeinated coffee?!” ), in the foyer there was this spectacular looking bronze statue keeping guard at the door:

We throughly enjoyed out day out at Layer Marney Tower, ad would definitively recommend it. There even is a nice “petting field” of sorts for the kiddies, as long as you can get past “The Management” :

I hope you enjoy your day at Layer Marney Tower, I know we did

Posted in Travel | |

Hever Castle, Kent, England

Hever Castle, Kent, England - Anne Boleyn’s old house when she was a kiddie, apparently. Anyway, we went to Hever Castle last weekend, (Sat April 26th 2008), as it was the official start to the English spring/summer time…

It was a very nice hot day at Hever Castle. Like a lot of places, they never allowed cameras inside, so I thought I’d give you an inside tour of Hever Castle from the outside….

The official guidelines to touring Hever Castle and it’s grounds are that you should give yourself about 4 hours to get around it all. That clearly didn’t include having lunch by the moat…

And if you thought Hever Castle was all about the main building itself, you should take a trip through the Italian Gardens and down to the massive lake at the end of the estate - where you’ll find a fountain with some naked chicks in it (!)

….

All-in-all I can say it’s definitely worth a trip to Hever Castle, Kent. We didn’t get around things like the Water Maze, or get a chance to go boating on the lake at the back of the Hever Castle estate. For more info on Hever Castle…. click here

Posted in Travel | |

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Layer Marney Tower

Hever Castle, Kent, England