4 months 3 bags 2 chances: Warwick Castle... Ree POV

"Go to the Castle" they said

"Why?" we asked.

"Because you'll love it" they said

"Sheesh - it's a castle, how good could it be?"

well.... turned out to be a cracker. Another "best day ever!" - thanks to the Kozzies and the Devilees and everyone else for the top tip.

It's old and very "castley" and fantastically maintained and quite majestic... and has taken on some considerable marketing advice. A visit is for just about every age and is a kind of hybrid: historical adventure/theme park/horror movie set/picnic in the park - with jousting.

To set the scene - there has been fortifications on the site since the Saxons fought the Danes in the days before dates were kept. The first "proper" castle - albeit originally of earth and wood with a wee "motte" (moat) and much later from stone, was built on the orders of William the Conquerer and handed over to one of his followers to look after - each successive custodian of the castle held the title "Earl of Warwick". Initially there seems to have been mixed fates of the various Earls - from lack of sons to lack of sense - and it wasn't until 1268 that a reaonably astute and feisty chap called William de Beauchamp inherited the castle and brought it some prestige and power. The various Earls throughout the 1300's and beyond then played politics with the various Kings of England with some success and some... well... not-success, but despite the tumultous history - at one time or another the Castle entertained Richard III, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Victoria and various others including the current HRH I believe. At some point the Earl of Warwick was also a chap named Lord Ambrose Dudley who was a "personal favourite" of Elizabeth and they spent a fair bit of time together under cover of darkness apparently. This is the game of thrones - for real.

However, by the early 1970's keeping castles just gets ridiculously and prohibitively expensive and, dare I say this in the land of the landed gentry, just plain archaic, and it is sold and soon becomes an "attraction". Since then the entertainment side of it has grown to include such enticing opportunities for punters as: "The Secrets and Scandals" tour, "The State Rooms Tour", "The Princess Tower" and "Merlin and the Dragon Tower", but for our money the best was "The Castle Dungeon" which scared the bee-jee-bees out of me and probably not the kids at all! As we snuck along inside the ancient and very darkened windowless walls we faced ghosties, a torturer, a very scarey medic dealing with gruesomely depicted plague victims, a judge on the lookout for witches, witches and an executioner. Bloody great! What's for lunch?

After that we chomped on not-so-authentic veggie burgers and hot dogs on the main lawn, saw a trebuchet (massive old catapult) fire a huge 20kg rock 100metres through the air, Drew tried his hand at archery, we could have taken in a birds of prey show and there was also the Victorian Rose Gardens and peackocks and a bunch of other stuff.

We. Loved our time at Warwick. It is beautiful countryside and a world away from London. Thank you Warwick - well worth the drive and the hotel.

"Go to the Castle" we say.