10 Best Castles In Kent

Dover Castle is the one that looks like the picture in a child's head — a keep, walls, high ground and a great deal to climb up and look out from. It also has more to it than a single building, which keeps older children going after the first hour. The trade is exposure: the site sits high above the sea with very little shelter, so the wind is a factor on almost any day of the year.

Generally yes, and better than the coastal forts do. Ground in the Weald is low and level, the walk in from a car park is usually short, and gardens give you something to look at that does not require climbing. Hever Castle & Gardens and Leeds Castle are that shape of visit. The obvious caution is the water itself — a moat has an edge and no fence in places, so a child who runs needs holding rather than trusting.

They might, and it is worth thinking about beforehand rather than at the entrance. The Wartime Tunnels at Dover Castle is flagged indoor and not outdoor, which tells you the visit happens underground: enclosed spaces, low light and no quick way back to daylight once you have started. Show a child the words secret passage and most will be sold on it; one who dislikes dark or tight spaces will want out, and that is difficult to arrange mid-route.

Geography, twice over. Kent is the closest part of the country to the Continent, so the coast was fortified repeatedly against whatever was coming across the water, which explains the hard military sites at the shore. Behind that, the Weald grew wealthy and its landowners built fortified houses on wet, low ground where a moat was the natural defence and later became the ornament. The two traditions sit in one county and look nothing alike.