Early start today for everyone... Gary and Katie had to go to work (what even is work??), Jack and Lexie had to go to school (what even is school??), we had planned a day to Warwick Castle and the Cotswolds. With a 45 minute drive ahead of us we set off at about 9am, Gary warning us of "spaghetti junction" near Birmingham. We had only gone two minutes when we had our first hiccup! With roadworks happening at the entering to the M6, there were signs saying entry closed, unsure of which exit to take we drove around the roundabout three times! As you can imagine, the kids and I were once again laughing hysterically, Grant on the other hand was not so happy!! I'm imagining that we could possibly show up on one of those motorway shows they have in the UK!!
Anyway we finally found our exit, and we were on the M6 heading south. We made it to our destination, with no further troubles, even managing to manoeuvre through the Birmingham exits with no problems.
The Warwick Castle is brilliantly set up for families, lots to see and do. The marketing concept is very commercialised, but each person who enters the grounds, still gets to marvel at the beauty of this castle and the surrounds. Thanks to Ann (Katie's mum), who had collect 2 for 1 offers for us, the entry was dramatically reduced. However if we wanted the Dungeon Experience, that was extra, but we would not be disappointed!
We first stopped and looked at the archery display, more suited for the younger age group (there were several school groups wandering around), however it was still interesting all the same. It started to drizzle with rain a little, so we decided to head into the castle. The castle is very authentic, once again beautiful rooms, filled with old furniture, tapestries and paintings. There is wax figures in most rooms, with recordings of conversations that would have taken place between the Earls and their court, and between the butlers and maids, it took quite a while to walk through all the rooms. We had already planned to watch the "bird of prey" display at 12.30pm, and then we had our date with the dungeons at 1.30pm, so we took our chance and went down to the food hall for a buffet carvary. Which was delicious and reasonably priced.
We got to the bird of prey display with five minutes to spare, but unfortunately we could see the very black cloud threatening, and we could see we were going to be in for a very heavy downfall! They were able to start the show, and we did get to see the four birds which they had on display. The birds were very impressive, and massive, their wingspans were incredibly, and they were very graceful. All four birds were eagles of some description, but when the rain settled in the show was quickly finished, as even the eagles were not liking it one little bit. As you can imagine we were extremely soaked by this stage. The drops of rain were huge, and even though we (some of us) had weather protection, it wasn't good enough to keep us dry!
We sort refugee in the bottom of one of the towers, which ended up being a bear cage. Yes, the place the Earls kept bears, to be used for entertaining?! From here we walked to the next tower and made our way up the many steps to the top, minus Marni, who has not yet conquered her fear of heights. The views were amazing looking over the countryside. From here we were able to walk around to three towers, all with hidden places where they kept weapons and ammunition ready for any attack on the castle. However, the stairwells are very small, and the steps very steep, I can't imagine that they were able to get many men up to the top of the towers very quickly!!
We made our way down from the towers just in time to meet Marni outside where our dungeon tour was to take place. Unsure of what was in store we were looking forward to the experience, and what an experience it was. Very scary at times, informative as well, but I don't want to give too much away, except that if you get the chance, go and do the tour, it really is worth it!!
After spending a lot more time at Warwick Castle then we anticipated, we decided that we would have a quick drive down to Stratford-Upon-Avon, to see the birthplace of William Shakespeare and wander around the beautiful shops! Including the Nutcracker Christmas shop, and an antique store which had many different items, from guns, jewellery, paintings, china and stuffed animals!!
We had planned on being home by 6pm, so we had done very well to be home by 6.05pm (including peak hour on the M6), after what had been a very hectic, yet fun day! We had an early tea, and then headed to the cricket club to catch up with everyone and to say our first lot of goodbyes.
It's been a lovely highlight getting to know the Penkridge Cricket Club community, and meeting so many wonderful friends of Gary and Katie's. It won't be long and we will be back again, but this time with a few extra family members!!
Highlights
* Warwick Castle, especially the Dungeon tour
* the gorgeous little shop in Stratford called Vinegar Hill
* more drinks with the PCC crowd! :)
Lots of Love,
Chrissie xx
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