July 26 - Tattershall Castle

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Well, today was our first castle experience so far! Tattershall Castle which was built by Ralph Cromwell. It had dungeons, 6 stories to the spectacular lookout, and activities for the kids (like spinning cotton wool, dressing up in period costumes, puzzles, and lots of places to hide!). It was our first really cloudy day but it never did rain! We did manage to satisfy Nigel's hankering for fish and chips for lunch. The drive was nice but not as breathtaking as when it is really sunny out. We have been noticing that the village names and the street names in the villages are really quite interesting. Today we saw a street off the main road through a village called "Labour in Vain Lane"....wonder where that one leads? And what the heck is a Wold? There are lots of villages called "_______(fill in the blank here)-on-the-Wolds. The other thing we are finally adjusting to here is that when you are following signs to a certain highway (A-something or M-something) the signs will say A-something Boston for example. So, you are not provided with a direction, you have to know what town is along the highway you are planning to take. Otherwise, you could take the A-something to Nottingham which would have the same number but is going the opposite direction. So, basically you always have to know which cities/towns are in the direction you are headed and follow signs to those

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Photos

The castle
About 600 years old

Sling thy arrows!
From here they shot arrows at anyone who made it over BOTH moats.

From the ramparts
The view from the castle...you can see up to 17 miles. At one time, Lord Cromwell owned everything he could see. Got it, got it, need it, got it.

Carding wool
Both kids got to card wool and then spin yarn. For this they earned an enormous chocolate egg from the volunteer.

Dunces or jesters?
There were loads of medieval costumes and swords to play with.

Ruins
This is where the two story stables once were.

Comments

[Rich]

Loving the updates
Family Robertson, I have been enjoying the stories and the egg updates. Enjoy the balance of the holiday and look forward to seeing all of you later this summer. Rich