Today Sam, Ron and I decided to go to Kenilworth (scene of Sir Walter Scott's novel of the same name). This is a lovely, medieval town about half-an-hour's drive from Sam's. The castle was built for defence reasons originally, as it was close to th Welsh border. John of Gaunt added to it, building a huge lake with the aid of a dam and enlarging the original building. After having bought our tickets we walked along a very flat path which had been used as a Tiltyard, where jousting was held. There were several buildings, including a wonderful half-timbered stable block built by the then Earl of Warwick, who then gave the castle to his son, Robert Dudley, who had known Elizabeth I since she was 8 years old and who was always her favourite, although sh steadfastly refused to marry him. In order to entice Elizabeth to visit more often, Robert (by then the Earl of Leicester)built a wonderful building especially for the Queen, who ended up visiting several more times. He also built a gatehouse which we were able to walk around and which had some of the original furniture. In one of the rooms a group of people was playing medieval tunes, one on a lute and it really added to the ambience of the place. Part of the stable building had been turned into an exhibition of sorts, with various artefacts that had survived over the years. On one table were trebouchet stones, weighing several hundred kilograms and which had been used to smash the walls of the castle when Oliver Cromwell decided to destroy any buildings that could be used as fortifications. Although the sign said there were three stones on the table, one was missing and we could only imagine whether or not someone had succeeded in removing it!!
This castle had a happy atmosphere because it had been primarily used as a residence and even though most of the buildings were in ruins; it was very different from Warwick Castle which, because it had been a military building and prison, had a rather sad, creepy feel.
Home for dinner and tomorrow we head back up north for a while.
