Bourques in Barcelona: Leeds Castle

Backing up just a bit, this is the location where Pat attended his quarterly GOLT meetings with Coty management, known as "the most beautiful castle in the world". It was indeed quite lovely, surrounded by rolling countryside, grazing animals, a full moat with black swans, ducks, etc. It is currently quite a tourist attraction and the day I arrived, September 29th, it was very crowded due to the continuing hot, sunny weather. Vicky kindly drove me there from Chelmsford, about an hour south and across the Thames River. With a little help from the parking attendant, we we able to bring her car closer to the castle itself and found out that Pat was to move rooms into one which was formerly part of the stable.

The castle was built by a Norman baron in the reign of William the Conqueror's son Henry I, on an island in the River Len. For many centuries, it was a royal residence before becoming the private home of an American heiress, the Hon. Olive, Lady Baillie. It was she who ensured the castle would be managed by the Leeds Castle Foundation and enjoyed by visitors from around the world. One of the more famous residents was Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who used it as a royal palace. The Coty management team enjoyed a dinner in Henry VIII's dining room!