A visit to Walmer Castle before heading to France

If time allows, I always try and fit in something with the family to go and visit somewhere before heading to the Port of Dover or the Channel Tunnel terminal and traveling across Le Manche to France. On this particularly warm summer’s day, we decided to check out Walmer Castle (before our trip to Normandy), which is located several miles north along the Kentish coastline from Dover. As we are English Heritage members, this was a no-brainer and in collusion, this turned out to be a great place to visit, not just because of the history, but the gardens are stunning when the flowers have blossomed. 

A brief history of Walmer Castle

Located on the outskirts of the town of Deal in a village called Walmer, the castle was built in 1540 as an artillery fort for King Henry VIII’s army. It was built to protect the country from invasion from our European neighbours. Eventually it became a stately-home for the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. These ports are managed by a Lord Warden who is appointed by the King or Queen and it’s their job to make sure the South Coast of England is well protected. The other Cinque Ports being Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, New Romney and Hastings. 

Design of the castle

I haven’t come across a castle designed like this one in England so it was very interesting to see. Its design is concentric as it has one circular keep in the middle surrounded by four half-circles bastions. All of this is surrounded by a large, deep moat and has one wooden drawbridge. After the threat of invasions disappeared, the keep was transformed into living quarters and then in the mid-1700s, the Duke of Dorset started to remodel the keep. More redesigning was done in the 18th century when William Pitt made more changes to the building and made the gardens even bigger. 

Inside the castle and more history of Walmer Castle

This didn’t take too long as the castle is actually small, however we did have the former British prime minister, William Pitts, bedroom and library and the Pitt Print Room where I saw many political prints of Wiliam Pitt. There is also a Duke of Wellington connection to the place as he was Lord Warden from 1829 but more interesting is that he died at Walmer Castle in 1852. On display here (as well as his death mask) is his famous pair of boots. The Duke asked his boot maker, a young George Hoby to make him a longer pair of boots which went over his knees, George made them and now the new ‘Wellington’ boot became the boots which everyone in the kingdom wanted to own and wear. Another former Prime Minister was made Lord Warden here, Winston Churchill in 1941 (yup, during the Second World War), however he never lived in the castle as it was deemed unsafe during war time. Away from Lord Wardens, there has been royalty staying at Walmer Castle. Queen Victoria came here in 1842, only because her usual residence in Brighton had a bout of Scarlet Fever going about, so this prevented the Queen visiting the city. In 1978 the Queen Mother (the mother of Queen Elizabeth II) was made the first female Lord Warden and she came down here every summer for a visit.

Eventually we landed up on the terrace. Our children loved checking out the canons (which were facing out to the sea) and pretended to be pirates. They sure had a blast up here. Also there are fantastic views of the beach. Afterwards we headed downstairs to check out the basements which originally started out as store rooms but since a fireplace was installed, one of the rooms was turned into a kitchen.

The gardens of Walmer Castle

The grounds are one of the most impressive I have seen on my travels around England. Its different, more of a Kentish feel I would say, I can’t really explain it. In the sunshine, the gardens are simply stunning. There are over eight acres of land to check out. The oldest part of the garden is known as the Kitchen Garden located next to the castle and this area is where all the fruit and vegetables are grown. All the food grown here are used for products for the castle tea rooms which visitors can nibble on. There is woodland to check out, the Queen Mother garden, the moats, there is so much to see on the nature front. Don’t forget to check out the sculptures of birds. 

Overall

A splendid few hours were to be had here and is a time-killer if visitors have a few hours to kill before heading over to France. I would recommend afterwards to check out the beach which is just across the road, or walk along the seafront to Deal Castle which is another of King Henry VIII’s forts, or head south and walk along the tops of the White Cliffs of Dover via St Margaret’s at Cliffe and its lighthouse (but this may need a quite a bit of time). The castle may seem to be hidden away from the main touristy spots of Eastern Kent but once here, it's a hidden gem and one which is worth visiting. 

Essential information on Walmer Castle

How to get to Dover: By car, Walmer Castle is just off the A258 and is well signposted once in the village of Walmer. It is best to come from the south (direction of Dover). To get to the A258, take the junction for this from the A2 between Whitfield and Dover. 

If arriving by train, there are high speed trains which serve Walmer and go to Ashford International, Ebbsfleet, Stratford International and into London St Pancras. The journey takes around one hour (and runs once an hour during midweek, check National Rail for train times and ticket prices). There are the slow trains as well which go into London Victoria and stop at a lot of stations on the way. Journey time is about two hours. 

The nearest airports are all based around London (Heathrow, Gatwick, City, Stansted and Luton). However the nearest airport is London Ashford International, otherwise known as Lydd Airport and is located about thirty minutes drive southwest of Dover and Folkestone. Here there are flights (mainly during the summer) to Le Touquet in Northern France. The first place I would go to find airline tickets to the city is using (I would recommend) Skyscanner to find flights as that is my first point of call. Then if necessary use the airlines directly to find a good deal. I sometimes use Momondo as well to compare prices before booking.  

Car Rentals - as I do a lot of road trips around the world, I use Rentalcars.com which is very reliable for booking car hire in advance. I also use Turo (the airbnb of car rentals) and never had a problem with them. The cars are insured, owners vetted and never had an issue.

Accommodation: There are a lot of accommodation options and a lot of websites which can do some great deals. My first point of call is always Booking.com and can offer a range of hostels, hotels, campsites, apartments, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts.. After that I always have a look through AirBnb and Vrbo for great deals on apartments and other lodgings especially when traveling as a family.  As I have a family and stop here regularly, I use Premier Inn and there is one located at the Eastern Docks right on the seafront or one outside the western end of town. 

Currency: England uses the British Pound. Currency can be exchanged at the airports and train stations (for a huge fee) so I would recommend either going to a currency exchange place downtown, to a bank (if they have good rates) or if you got a good bank account with fantastic exchange rates, then use an ATM machine (may incur a small fee but I always do this option as I got good bank accounts). A great website I use to compare currency exchange rates is XE, which gives people up to date information.  

Language: England uses the English language and is used all over the country. Just to point out there are many dialects and other languages like Cornish-Gaelic used in the country but everyone who speaks English will understand other dialects from other regions.

Travel insurance: This is essential to anywhere you go in the world. I always carry travel insurance. Having travel insurance will cover you from theft, illness and those annoying cancellations which can happen on the road. Safety Wing offers coverage for a lot of adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and so forth. 

Need a visa for the UK? Always check if you need a visa when coming to the United Kingdom. Since leaving the European Union because of BrExit in January 2020, visa rules apply for those coming from the European Union.

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Please note that while I was not working with English Heritage, my review and experiences written about in this post are 100% genuine. I value my readers too much to lie to you. My blog would be nothing without you and your continued support! There maybe some links above which are affiliate and are at no additional cost to you. If my readers use them, I earn a commission to buy their products and remember, I only mentioned products and companies I use. The income from this keeps this website going. Thank you.