After the disappointment of Legoland, I was a little apprehensive about our visit to Warwick Castle the next day (Monday, October 1). We found it easily with the help of the Tomtom (which took us via various back roads and through some lovely little English villages with thatched
roof cottages) to get to the castle. It was fantastic. It was unashamedly tourist oriented but still provided lots of interesting history. The girls had a great time because the history was really brought to life. We saw an interesting talk and demonstration about long bows and cross bows and another demonstration of a giant trebuchet (a huge catapult used to bombard besieged castles). The ghost tour was also great. Ellen was scared the first time in and burst in to tears so we left. But she bravely wiped away the tears and decided to try it again. It was in a darkened tower of the castle and told the story of the death of one of its former owners. People were dressed up and acted as statues and leapt out at you at various points. Other parts of the castle have rooms set up showing various parts of history. One is devoted to a ‘royal weekend’ and shows parts of the castle converted into a Victorian house for a weekend in late 1890s. Wax models depict various characters at the weekend house party. It’s all really well done with the furniture and models giving a real sense of what it was like. Another part in the lower parts of the castle that weren’t converted into a house shows a story of medieval times. Again wax models and recordings are used to really bring it to life. In this section one of the staff got the girls and Alastair involved. They were dressed up and set up as ‘wax models’ in one of the scenes. They then tricked the other people who came through. It was great fun. Alastair particularly surprised a couple of Portuguese visitors, who had not noticed any of the real people in the scene, by calling out Ola after they had been watching the scene for a couple of minutes. The look on the woman’s face as she realised they were real was priceless. We also climbed up and around the ramparts and saw another section where they used two films – one projected onto a giant wall – to tell the story of preparing for battle.
After that we set off for Ross’s. The two-hour journey this time took us three-and-a-half hours as we found ourselves caught in yet another traffic jam as we came back into London. I really couldn’t cope with living in a place where traffic jams are such a part of everyday existence – what a waste of your precious time.
Carlene
roof cottages) to get to the castle. It was fantastic. It was unashamedly tourist oriented but still provided lots of interesting history. The girls had a great time because the history was really brought to life. We saw an interesting talk and demonstration about long bows and cross bows and another demonstration of a giant trebuchet (a huge catapult used to bombard besieged castles). The ghost tour was also great. Ellen was scared the first time in and burst in to tears so we left. But she bravely wiped away the tears and decided to try it again. It was in a darkened tower of the castle and told the story of the death of one of its former owners. People were dressed up and acted as statues and leapt out at you at various points. Other parts of the castle have rooms set up showing various parts of history. One is devoted to a ‘royal weekend’ and shows parts of the castle converted into a Victorian house for a weekend in late 1890s. Wax models depict various characters at the weekend house party. It’s all really well done with the furniture and models giving a real sense of what it was like. Another part in the lower parts of the castle that weren’t converted into a house shows a story of medieval times. Again wax models and recordings are used to really bring it to life. In this section one of the staff got the girls and Alastair involved. They were dressed up and set up as ‘wax models’ in one of the scenes. They then tricked the other people who came through. It was great fun. Alastair particularly surprised a couple of Portuguese visitors, who had not noticed any of the real people in the scene, by calling out Ola after they had been watching the scene for a couple of minutes. The look on the woman’s face as she realised they were real was priceless. We also climbed up and around the ramparts and saw another section where they used two films – one projected onto a giant wall – to tell the story of preparing for battle.After that we set off for Ross’s. The two-hour journey this time took us three-and-a-half hours as we found ourselves caught in yet another traffic jam as we came back into London. I really couldn’t cope with living in a place where traffic jams are such a part of everyday existence – what a waste of your precious time.
Carlene
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