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Coach Hire to Leeds Castle From Sussex and Kent

JRP Direct offers coach and minibus hire to Leeds Castle near Maidstone in Kent, collecting from across Sussex and Kent, with drivers vetted to enhanced DBS level, an accessible executive coach with a wheelchair lift and practical guidance on tickets, timings, access and events at the castle. Free quotes are available on 01435 515099 or from info@jrpdirect.co.uk.

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Coach and minibus hire to Leeds Castle

Coach hire to Leeds Castle with JRP Direct takes your party to one of Kent’s best-known castles in a single vehicle, with collection at your door and an enhanced DBS-checked driver at the wheel. Leeds Castle has more than 900 years of history and stands in an estate of over 500 acres near Maidstone, with gardens, a yew maze and grotto, falconry displays and Elsie the Castle Train alongside the castle itself, and it welcomed 468,574 visitors in 2025. JRP Direct, the family-run operator at Cross in Hand near Heathfield in East Sussex, has been running group transport since 2019, and our vehicles include a wheelchair-accessible executive coach and 75-seater coaches. This page covers choosing a vehicle, group and education tickets at Leeds Castle, planning the day, access for less mobile visitors, this autumn’s events and the route from Sussex.

Choosing a minibus or coach for Leeds Castle

Every passenger and accompanying adult needs a seat, so vehicle size follows your final numbers. A small party can travel on our 16-seater minibus, and a club outing or slightly larger party on the 19-seater executive minibus. Our 35-seater team coach suits a school class with its staff or a larger society, and our 75-seater coaches take a whole year group or a big organisation together. For groups that include a wheelchair user, the wheelchair-accessible executive coach has 51 seats plus a wheelchair position, and its lift is professionally maintained and checked before every journey.

Group and education tickets at Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle’s group rates apply to parties of 15 or more and include the castle, the gardens and the estate’s attractions, and the castle is holding its group admission prices at their current level until 31 March 2028. Group tickets are valid for one day, the final count is confirmed at the ticket office on arrival, and coach drivers are admitted free with a refreshment voucher.

Schools have their own terms. As part of its charitable mission, Leeds Castle offers subsidised education rates to schools in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Essex and London on weekdays during Kent school term times, with themed workshops, talks and self-guided visits for early years, Key Stages 1 to 5 and adult learners. Accompanying adults are admitted free within set ratios, which run between one adult to three children for nursery and one adult to fifteen at Key Stage 4, so please give us pupil and adult numbers separately when you ask for a quote. The castle holds the Sandford Award for Heritage Education.

More on how we run school travel is on our minibus hire with driver for school trips page, and for a Tudor history visit see coach hire to Hever Castle.

Planning your day at Leeds Castle

Pre-booked group lunches at Castle View Restaurant are served at 12pm or 2pm, with final numbers and payment needed at least 14 days in advance. Schools can pre-book one of two lunch rooms instead, one seating up to 45 and the other between 30 and 35. Workshops run for groups of at least 25, with no more than three groups a day.

Private guided tours of the castle run before normal opening at 9.15am, 9.30am and 9.45am, and on those tours Leeds Castle allows coaches to drive to a point near the castle island to set passengers down. Tell us the time of any lunch, tour or workshop you have booked and we will plan the departure around it.

Access for less mobile visitors

Leeds Castle runs a free, fully accessible mobility bus from near the ticket office for visitors who need help getting around the estate, except on special ticketed event days. Elsie the Castle Train cannot take wheelchairs, but complimentary estate transport is offered to less mobile visitors and wheelchairs can be borrowed free of charge, subject to availability.

There are about 45 metres of cobblestones across the drawbridge, no more than two wheelchairs are allowed inside the castle at once and the upstairs rooms are not accessible to wheelchair users. Leeds Castle is recognised by the Kent Dementia Action Alliance as working to become dementia friendly, recognises the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower and includes one free carer with each disabled visitor ticket, and it asks schools to tell it about any special educational needs in advance.

Autumn and Christmas at Leeds Castle in 2026

Horrible Histories Halloween runs between 17 October and 1 November 2026 and is included with admission. The Leeds Castle Fireworks Spectacular on 7 and 8 November is a separately ticketed evening event. Wallace & Gromit, A Cracking Christmas Caper, runs between 21 November 2026 and 3 January 2027 and is included with admission, and Leeds Castle publishes separate information for group visits at Christmas.

For other group outings, see our tours and day trips and coach hire to Wakehurst Place for Glow Wild.

The route to Leeds Castle and where we collect from

Leeds Castle is near Maidstone in Kent, at postcode ME17 1PL, about seven miles east of the town and signposted from junction 8 of the M20 with brown tourist signs. Schools, clubs, care homes and community venues anywhere in Sussex and Kent are within our area, with towns such as Heathfield, Hailsham, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings, Battle, Uckfield, Crowborough and Tunbridge Wells among them.

Every JRP Direct driver holds an enhanced DBS check that is renewed regularly, and every vehicle carries CCTV and telematics tracking and is cleaned before each journey. Every collection is made 15 minutes ahead of the time agreed with you.

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    Whether it’s an airport run or a week-long European adventure, our minibus hire service is ready to make it happen. Call our friendly team or request your free online quote today.

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  • “Lovely, Clean, And Comfortable”

    “We would all like to thank you for supplying a lovely, clean, and comfortable minibus. As well as for our driver, Adrian, who is a very professional driver, very polite and most helpful as he had to load two mobility scooters in and out. Also, as a surprise, he had a drive through the Christmas lights on the way home, which all my family and friends thoroughly enjoyed, as some had never seen before. Thanks again, great day had by all.”

    Anonymous

Arrange coach hire to Leeds Castle

For coach hire to Leeds Castle, give us your preferred date, the number of passengers and accompanying adults, any mobility needs and the time of any workshop, tour or lunch you have booked with the castle, and the office will put a written quote together with clear, transparent pricing.

Phone 01435 515099 or email info@jrpdirect.co.uk, or request a free quote through the website.

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  • Case Study

    Transport For A School Christmas Event

    A large independent school in East Sussex asked JRP Direct to deliver its whole-school Christmas day out, transporting more than 1,000 students and staff across a full day with multiple movements.

    Read the case study

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