Warwick Castle and the 530 steps

Warwick Castle and the 530 steps

East Gate at Warwick Castle

After enjoying last weeks trip up to see the monument on the Welcombe Hills near Stratford-upon-Avon so much, I decided this week to take the kids to Warwick Castle.

We set off at 9:30 picking up granny in Stratford on the way and got to Warwick at about 10:15 and parked up in the Stables car park right at the entrance to the castle.

Having already brought the tickets (at a discount price) from Stratford Information Centre, we quickly made our way to the East Gate just in time to hear a little history and see a demonstration of the lowering and raising of the portcullis.

Once inside we had a quick look at the itinery then had a walk around the interior to see the wax work reconstruction of a weekend party hosted in 1898 which included the then Prince of Wales, later to become Edward VII.

The rooms, decor, furnishings etc. of the Royal Weekend Party are the orginals and are positioned as they were over the weekend thanks to photographs taken at the time.

After the walk around the interior we made our way to the central courtyard for a good bit of entertainment where 2 ladies in the crowd were pulled out to pledge their allegiance to the house of york and the house of Lancaster.

Warwick Castle Trebuchet

We then made our way down to River Island to see a demonstration firing of an old mediaeval Trebuchet one of the biggest and most deadly siege machines of its time.

A trebuchet is effectively a massive catapult which was used to fire huge missiles to breach castle walls. The majority of time large rocks and stones were fired, but apparantly they would also fire manure, rotting meat and dead animals over the walls of the castle in the hope of spreading disease. 

With the trebuchet demonstration over we had a walk past the birds of prey to watch a falconry display then visited some of the side stalls giving fighting and archery lessons and stopped off for an ice cream.

Ice creams all finished, we set off on the walk along the castle walls and up the towers. 530 steps it said at the entrance and our legs knew about them by the time we got to the other end. From the top tower we could see all across the Warwickshire countryside. The kids loved being on the top of the tower and showed no fear of heights. (maybe that happens as we get older, I don’t like them anymore)

With our feet back on solid ground we headed back down to the riverside to see a jousting display and sat on the bank of the river eating chips and sweet pancakes.

After the jousting we had a our first bit of real queing of the day, a 30 minute wait to get inside the Princess Tower. A new attraction aimed really at 4 to 8 year old girls, but we all enjoyed it especially when the kids could dress up as knights and Princesses ( L being the typical tomboy that she is, decided she wanted a helmet shield and sword though rather than a princesses outfit)

We finished the day of with a quick walk around the main hall and then in to the kids adventure playground where they both went mad for half an hour.

On the way out we picked up a few typical gifts, including a knight in shinining armour fridge magnet for J and a fantastic knights outfit for T.

All in all it was a great day, the staff were all nice and friendly and there was loads to do, even when the main events were not on there was always something happening, including members of staff (dressed in character) sitting down telling the kids stories as we were queing for anything.

Next week it’s Broadway Tower

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