Without Lady Baillie the castle would not be restored to the
condition it is in today. But, I am sure you are asking yourselves what we did,
and that was “Who exactly is Lady Baillie”? Born in the United States in 1899,
Olive Cecelia Paget was the daughter of Baron Queensborough, Almeric Paget and
his American wife, Pauline. Pauline was the daughter of William Whitney who was
the U.S. Navy Secretary during Grover Cleveland’s presidency. He died in 1904
leaving a substantial fortune founded on the New York tramway system. It was in
1926 that Olive and her second husband purchased Leeds Castle for £180,000 with an additional £100,000 needed to restore it.
The castle served as Lady Olive Baillie’s summer home where she threw lavish
parties in the 1930’s. One of her passions was birds, which can be seen
throughout the interior artwork and also on the castle grounds.
The moat that surrounds the castle is home to a variety of
birds including Coot, Jakdaws, Mallards, Geese, Black Swans, Whooper Swans,
Peacocks and even a few white Peacocks. Even more notable, however, is the
castle’s falconry. Morgan and I had the opportunity to see these incredible
birds that are trained to fly to the top of the castle and return. In fact, for
anyone who is interesting in “flying the birds” you will have the opportunity
to put on the glove and fly the falcons. Meet Gracie and Elvis. |
| Elvis |
Debbie Matthews is the Business Manager at Leeds Castle and
cannot wait to welcome our group.
