Sept 8 Warwick Castle

 Today’s adventure was an outing to Warwick Castle, a venue with a tremendous history combined with an almost theme-park sort of atmosphere.  It made for a very full and enjoyable day.

Warwick Castle is without doubt the most kid-friendly castle we’ve encountered.  There is an orange dragon mascot named “Zog”, and many of the children managed to convince mommy and daddy to buy them wooden facsimiles of feudal weaponry and shields in much the same way they might seek out princess dresses in more familiar theme parks.  The ultimate result seemed to be a lot of siblings getting whacked with sticks under the guise of Medieval reenactment.  It’s probable that many parents found themselves regretting their choices.

Other features of the castle included a hedge maze, archery lessons, film depictions of local history, and rooms set up with realistic mannequins to show life as it was back in the day.

We were really excited about the trebuchet that is a prized possession at Warwick Castle.  A trebuchet is like a catapult, only fancier and Frencher.  We thought we’d be witness to a demonstration of it in action.  Alas, the device was out of order, and it seems you can’t just drop into Lordco to pick up parts for a trebuchet.  Still, we had a fascinating  presentation of how such a piece of equipment would work.  It will be next year before they’ll have the opportunity to run demonstrations again.

I think the four of us were unanimous in the opinion that the day’s hilight was the show put on by the falconers of Warwick.  This far exceeded the pigeon and swan encounters of the previous day.  We were treated to aerial performances by owls, eagles, condors, falcons, peregrine falcons, bald eagles, and more.  These birds flew back and fort over the audience so low that some folks had their hair parted for them.

The show took an unexpected turn when the peregrine falcon flew away and didn’t come back. You could tell the falconers were concerned, but they carried on the show seamlessly.  Then, just as the show was wrapping up, the little blighter decided to return.  We chatted with one of the falconers afterward and he explained that what had happened was the equivalent of taking the dog for a walk and having it run off chasing cats.  He also explained that the birds are all geo- tagged, so they weren’t really all that worried.  He said they don’t actual lose birds, they only misplace them for a while.

All in all, we had a really nice time at Warwick.  Once back in Stratford, Bev, Debbie and Chris set off to view Anne Hathaway’s Cottage while Don got some needed rest.  That pretty much sums up the day that was.
Warwick Castle

Don and Bev at Warwick


Zog the dragon ambassador of Warwick

Falcon’s Quest birds of prey demonstration





The great hall




Beautiful circular stairwell


Trebuchet - weapon similar to a catapult, operation demonstrated by
A man in a hamster wheel

Back to Stratford on Avon for a beautiful evening
The Avon River

Anne Hathaway’s cottage












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