Photos 2018 (England)

I visited Dover Castle because of a documentary showing the way they'd recreated the interiors of these (mostly medieval) rooms.  A lot of castles are presented without furnishings or any remnants of what they would have looked like when they were in use.  Dover Castle has hired historians and craftsmen to research what the dining hall and personal apartments would have looked like at the time of Henry II (in the 12th century).  This gives a much better sense that these people were just like us... they played board games, ate and drank with familiar utensils, enjoyed colorful wall decorations. 

This was my second year going to this, and it's still enchanting.  Kew Royal Botanical Gardens gets different artists or companies to put together sound and light installations, which are scattered around a one-mile path through the grounds.  In between the installations are food and beverage kiosks, including mulled wine, hot chocolate and even toast-your-own marshmallows.  (And I have to say, the British marshmallows are nothing like their gooey, tasteless US equivalents.)