I’m not a big city girl. I need to live where there are trees, mountains and preferably a lake or some other body of water. This notion was further re-enforced on my recent road trip around the UK (excluding Northern Ireland ;-) ) Not only is it absolutely beautiful driving around the English, Scottish and Welsh countryside, the air is so fresh that my pores have been greatly reduced. Before I waffle on about the countryside and make myself sound like a country bumpkin, I should start at the beginning of the UK road trip.
The first unofficial day of the road trip was a train ride to Brighton. (It was unofficial because we hadn’t left London and just caught the hour long train ride out to Brighton). Brighton is a coastal town where the sea is bright blue even on extremely cold and cloudy days. It was great to smell salty air again, or just any sort of air that’s not full of pollution. The highlight of Brighton for me was The Royal Pavillion, mainly because I hadn’t heard about until we stumbled across it and secondly because it was awesome!!! If you’re into palaces, history or art, this is definitely one to visit. I wasn’t allowed to take photos, but the Pavillion is sumptuously and very elobrately decorated and I was in awe of all of the interior design in the rooms. I’d like to try and describe it, but my vocabulary could never do it justice so the best way to experience it is to just visit the palace, or google pictures of it! :P Overall the city of Brighton a relaxed, hippy-ish town that I’d gladly visit again.
The next day we picked up the hire car from Oxford and drove to Warwick Castle, “Britian’s Ultimate Castle”. Warwick Castle has definitely been made into the ultimate tourist attraction with jousting, trebuchets (medieval siege machines for those of you who have never played Age of the Empire I, II and possibly III), archery and even a Sword in the Stone event (I tried, but I couldn't pull it out *sniff*). If there’s one Englsh castle you want to go to experience a castle and grounds, Warwick Castle is definitely the one.
My main interest in the castle was the Merlin (tv show) “adventure”. After going to the Doctor Who Experience I was expecting a lot more, and quite frankly the Merlin: The Dragon’s Tower was nothing in comparison, but given the limited physical space available for the adventure, I suppose they did quite well.
Aside from King Henry VIII and his life (I heard more than enough of his life at Hampton Court) they also had a section called Secrets and Scandals set in the early 20th century. The mannequins and actors were dressed in the 1920s style and sound and voice recordings to make you feel like you’ve come to a weekend party at the castle. There are also dungeons, stables, blacksmiths quarters and the like to see as well as castle walls to walk along and peacock filled gardens to wander through. I recommend spending at least a day here because half a day was not where near enough.
I was glad to see kids running around in their costumes and pretending to knights and princesses and not spending their spring break sitting in front of computers and television sets. I’m glad Warwick Castle is keeping imagination alive in children’s minds.
