【英语时差8,16】利兹城堡（在线收听）

Leeds Castle Chen Li:Helen, I’m very excited about this place we’re going today. Helen: Me too. Today we’re taking you to Leeds Castle, set in the stunning countryside of Kent, about one hour from London. Taking us on a tour of the castle is Victoria Wallace, the managing director of the castle. First she told us how old the castle is. Palace is exactly the right word – it was a royal palace. It’s basically a building that’s evolved over 900 years, it started off as one of the Norman castles. Leeds has been described as the loveliest castle in the world. And I think that’s largely because it sits in a beautiful fairytale landscape, sitting on these two islands in the middle of a lake, with gentle mellow stone architecture. As you walk into the castle itself, you enter a completely different atmosphere - it looks like an English country house. And all the way around, are these big windows, so it’s a castle full of light. And you look out over the lakes and over the moat, and you see the swans swimming – particularly black swans, which are our speciality - and look out to the gentle English landscape beyond. We’ve got lovely gardens which are set up to show all sorts of different styles, and a fantastic maze with an underground grotto, full of myth and mystery. You can be lost in there for hours, but for most people it takes about quarter of an hour to go round.