With origins in the 9th century, Leeds Castle near Maidstone, Kent, sits on an island in a lake created by the River Len. In the 16th century Henry VIII acquired the property for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The castle's current appearance dates from the early 1800's. Its final private owner was Olive, Lady Baillie, an American heiress; the castle opened to the public upon her death in the 1970's.
