June 18, 2018 - Warwick Castle

On June 18th we visited Warwick Castle for the day.  Warwick is not quite an hour and a half south of where we live in Derby, approximately half-way to London.  Wikipedia (the font of all knowledge) says the following about it:

Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a bend of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-and-bailey castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War, the facade opposite the town was refortified, resulting in one of the most recognizable examples of 14th-century military architecture. It was used as a stronghold until the early 17th century when it was granted to Sir Fulke Greville by James I in 1604. Greville converted it to a country house and it was owned by the Greville family, who became Earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978 when it was bought by the Tussauds Group.

It is now a major tourist site, with all the trappings of a theme park.  Despite being quite commercialized, it is still neat to see how things might have looked and functioned in an earlier age. We loved learning some of the history and being able to explore the castle and grounds! 

The hill at one end of the castle perimeter is the oldest part of the entire structure, which has been added on to and re-built many times over the centuries. One later alteration was raising the interior grounds a full 10 feet above the surrounding outside land, which makes it feel more open and comfortable on the inside, while still looking quite imposing from the outside.

They even have a working trebuchet (a catapult-like weapon)!  They make a grand production of firing it a few times each day, and the hype is warranted.

It was fun to see how the staff really "got in to" acting out their parts to share the history with us.

As the castle was converted into a grand home, they also developed impressive gardens.

...complete with peacocks and an orangery. We have seen orangeries all through our travels. They are garden additions that are a sort of greenhouse/conservatory, for growing citrus trees and tropical plants that need extra protection. These became fashionable in the 1600's and can be quite grand, with beautiful views, fountains, statuary, wall murals, and comfortable seating for tea time or contemplation.

In addition to the trebuchet firing, they also put on multiple bird of prey shows.  They flew various eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls and talked about the old-time ways of hunting with birds. It is amazing what they can be trained to do. We loved it!

Sometimes birders wear funny shoes.

As noted in the description above, the castle was acquired by Tussauds Group (famous for their wax figures) in the 1970s.  They created wax figure displays throughout the inside of the castle that really make the place come alive and give a much clearer sense of how the castle might of been when it was truly functioning as a castle.

They also provided an archery demonstration, which was quite informative and entertaining.

Though we passed on the interactive, seemingly over-hyped dungeon show that you could see for an additional fee, we did explore the dungeon a bit. It was rather morbid to stand in a true underground dungeon, where people really did suffer, as can be seen by the messages scratched into the stones.

We had a hard time leaving when it was time to go...