Warwick Castle

Today we visited Warwick Castle.  The Castle is unlike anything we have seen thus far.  Every place we have visited has been classy and serious.  Warwick is like a renaissance festival but 10 times better than anything I have ever seen.

It is a true castle with history going back to William the Conquer in 1068.  As with everything around here you have to keep in mind that in the last 1000 years many additions have been added on.  

The tower behind the catapult is dated to 1450 as is most of the buildings, towers and walls standing today.

Warwick Castle is also where Richard Neville lived.  He was know as "The Kingmaker" for helping to place Edward the fourth on the throne.

All the castles we have seen thus far have been palaces or nice homes that just happen to be castles.  This place was a serious castle, it was meant to be used and defended against invaders.

Sandy, you need to ask Ella if she recognizes this castle from any of her favorite tv shows.

Warwick Castle is very kid friendly, something we haven't yet seen in any place we visited.

The girls took place in a relay race.

The goal was to ride a stick horse to slay the dragon and then run back so the next person could have a chance to do the same.

Of course the fastest team would win.  The girls played twice and won once.

There were stocks.

Then came the display of arms.  In other words a good fight between knights.

See the flag above?  The red rose symbolizes the House of Lancaster.  Ever hear of the War of Roses?  Two major ruling houses in England when to war over who should be the royal family and the king.  The family of York had a white rose as their symbol.  By displaying a rose either in red or white you were at the time declaring your loyalty to one side or the other.  When the civil war ended the roses were combined to make the Tudor Rose, a combination of red and white.

We had a good display of swordsmanship before the "knights" explained that Hollywood has changed history so much that fighting didn't take place as we think.

They explained that you would never fight like this with a sword, it would dull the blade.

This guy was explaining the virtues of using a battle axe to fight.

We then headed over to see the jousting.  There was boat rides on the river.  We didn't ride it, but it sure looked fun!

The knights preparing for the jousting competition.

Looking back at the castle from the jousting grounds.

Hello Beautiful!

Then there was this guy too, I couldn't help but drool a little.

Wait, you do know I'm talking about the horses, right?

After jousting they fired off a fireball with the trebuchet.

See the fireball being launched?

Click on the picture and you can see it bigger.

We had a lot of fun, there were crowds but we survived them.  I can't go to a renaissance festival in the States for several years now, this one really takes the cake.