Because Tyler's home unit in the US Air Force is at Ramstein AB, Germany, he had to travel there TDY to in-process prior to school starting in the UK. Since the rest of the family would be bored to tears in a hotel room in Swindon otherwise, we decided to drive together to Germany. Luckily, we found a Honda Accord in good condition when we drove up to Lakenheath to pickup our minivan.
So, a week after arriving, we were off again to catch the train through the chunnel. The drive was to take about 2 1/2 hours direct, so we left about 5 hours early and hoped to see an interesting castle along the way.
Little did we know when we planned the trip, but school children all over the UK had their last day of school on Friday, the day prior to our trip. As you can imagine, hoards of families started driving towards Dover, the main ferry port with the shortest distance across the channel to France. Even as we left around 1000, google maps was already showing backed up traffic on the highways around Dover. Even the BBC radio was warning listeners to expect up to 5 hour delays.
After much hand wringing, we decided to continue with our plan to see Bodiam Castle. When we arrived, we had exactly 45 minutes before we would fall behind the estimated travel time to make our train's check-in window. We jumped out and walked at a quick pace to the dramatic castle, surrounded by a large moat.
This castle was built in the 1300s when invasions from France were still a constant fear. It lay about 20 miles inland from the coast, and was designed to put up a defense against any invaders.
The interior was mostly in ruins, although a few intact rooms survived along the outer wall. The battlements, towers and archer slots all reinforced what you would typically think a medieval castle would be like. 
Just inside the front gate, there was a side room with a chest full of ladies' dresses and knights tunics. The kids had fun dressing up and pretending as we quickly toured around.
As our time was quickly up, we finished our circuit around the moat where we encountered a grounds keeper. He offered to take our picture and told us a few tidbits about the history and design of the castle.
Apparently, the earth bridge that we took to enter the castle was not the same as the orginal. When first constructed, there was a land bridge that approached the castle and made a 90 degree bend in the moat towards the main gate. This was a sly defensive design since soldiers almost always carried their shield in the left hand and their sword in the right. Thus, invading armies would expose their right side to archers as they crossed the moat on this bridge before turning right to face the gate head on.
Also, there was a pond just outside the moat that the gentleman told us was a stock tank for fish originally - a great idea to feed a castle full of people that never had occurred to us before.
We rushed back to the car and sped off towards the train station. Because the traffic was so bad on the highways, we decided to take the 'shortcut' along country lanes. It was perhaps the most tense and scary driving route we'd taken since the Amalfi coast in Italy. Mostly the road was about 1 1/2 car widths wide - comfortable for one car, tricky for two and downright scary when both cars are traveling around 50 miles an hour when they pass.
In one small town, we clipped side mirrors with a parked car as we passed another one and had to call the local police to report it in case anyone needed insurance information. When we arrived at the train station, right on time, there was a huge, hour-long line to check in. We made our check-in time, but the train ended up leaving over an hour late due to heightened security checks. Our trip happened to coincide with a wave of terrorist attacks in France & Germany that summer and security was very tight.
The chunnel was an extremely effortless way to travel. After checking in electronically at a toll booth, you waited in a well appointed rest area with shops and restaurants until your group letter was displayed on the giant boards. Then you queued in your vehicles, checked passports, and drove your car straight onto the double-decker train. All the train cars were connected so you could drive bumper to bumper all the way through. Once every car was on board and spaced evenly, doors automatically closed to separate compartments. Within minutes, the train was off for a 35 minute journey to make the 20 mile crossing underneath the English Channel.
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