My first real castle, turned out indeed to be a moated grange.
Know that of our special grace we have granted and given licence on behalf of ourselves and our heirs, so far as in us lies, to our beloved and faithful Edward Dalyngrigge Knight, that he may strengthen with a wall of stone and lime, and crenellate and may construct and make into a Castle his manor house of Bodiam, near the sea, in the County of Sussex, for the defence of the adjacent country, and the resistance to our enemies ... In witness of which etc. The King at Westminster 20 October
— Excerpt from the licence to crenellate allowing Edward Dalyngrigge to build a castle from the Patent Rolls of 1385–89.
Originally a manor house, it's owners fought for the Lancasters in the Wars of the Roses and, later, with the Royalists in the English Civil Wars - always on the losing side, it seems. Today it lies in the loving hands of the National Trust. After a magical drive through fairyland, it was the perfect way to end that day.