another day, another (unexpected) castle
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009by Rach
back at the couchsurfer’s lane in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England
You wake up almost at today’s destination coz you travelled so much further than planned yesterday. All the same, there are a few miles to cover and just for a change, it’s raining again. You zoom zoom zoom along the M6 until toll booth signs appear, at which point you join everyone else exiting the good road and not-so-zooming along a parallel one for no cost. It was more interesting driving anyway!
Noon time and it’s still pouring and there is nowhere to stop and so we investigate another castle near where we are going. It holds the promise of a carpark to lunch in, an indoor exhibition to stretch the legs in and being English Heritage, it’s free to us…so we drive on for another hour.
Kenilworth Castle. A real introduction to Elizabethan England. All castles are not the same, and this one has a particularly fascinating history, relayed to us via audio tour, informative signboards, a couple of exhibitions and a box full of dress-ups (very different to the knights and ladies ones!) There was also a meticulously researched Elizabethan Garden, and as I was the only one of us to listen to the full commentary, I came away with the richest experience (although they, perhaps, had the most fun chasing through the maze like symmetry). To be honest, I did not think it would be all that enthralling to hear about flowers and statues and what the Elizabethans treasured most in their gardens….but actually it was. And I learnt a lot. I’ll slip snippets of info into future conversations so everyone else can benefit too <wink>
Actually, it’s been interesting to watch everyone’s knowledge grow – the first ruins we encountered were little more than a pile of bricks. Now the kids can zip around surmising that here was an oven, there a cauldron, here a garderobe, there a drain…..and more often than not, their guesses are confirmed in the audio tour – a self-checking test if you like! They are also learning words like illegitimate and execution, and concepts like families having fourteen children and the reality of siege and warfare. Every castle, every garden has its own stories, its own lessons to share.
Just another day. A special day.
Time on the road: need to check Jboy13’s record!
Distance covered: 108km
rayres