We’ve had a few fun trips out to some castles and thought we’d put them in one post to keep things simple. The pictures are what bring the castle more to life than my words – so I hope they help convey the experience!
Framlingham Castle
We stopped at the English Heritage Framlingham Castle en route to Dunwich Heath. This old castle dates back to the 12th century. When we’re from a country that has not even had its 300-year-old birthday yet, it feels surreal to visit places that are centuries old! The kids say the best activity at Framlingham is the Castle Wall walk because we could climb the stairs to the top of the castle remains and walk the perimeter. They enjoyed identifying the arrow slits in the castle’s remains. If you’re not familiar with an arrow slit, it is a narrow hollow rectangle in the castle wall where an archer could shoot arrows out if need be. I don’t know if I got a picture, but I’ll try to snap one next time we’re out at a castle!
The castle also had free self-guided audio tours, a kid or adult version. We tried these out and without headphones, it was hard to hear. It did have an audio jack. Next time we visit an English Heritage site, we’ll bring some headphones so everyone can listen. The novelty of a self-guided audio tour sounded so exciting for the kids. It bummed them out we couldn’t fully experience it. Parents reading from a sign is not the same!
The castle had a small museum. The exhibits showed examples of attire worn at the time and even a little game to help learn what types of food the different classes ate. The kids could pick and choose a variety of foods and move them to each plate. When they finished, they could check their answers. I wish we could say that we savored learning about the finer points in life back then, but Lil Fox and Hedgehog were too excited to get to the Castle Wall walk, so we only spent a handful of minutes in the actual museum.
It was a great first castle experience for us! Low key and just enough interaction to not feel too overwhelming.
Kenilworth Castle
Kenilworth castle has so many centuries of history that my mind exploded trying to follow it. I mean really, how can your brain process all that storytelling while walking around!? Kenilworth Castle came to life in the 12th century (!!). I love history so I get so worked up being able to be by something that people used such a long time ago. It feels surreal (I know I already said this above).
Kids loved this because it also has remnants of a moat. We walked through an entrance where we could visualize and see the slit to have the gate drop to keep people out. Cue the movie scenes where you have the macho man holding the gate up so people can run out (or in).
A couple of noteworthy things about this castle:
- Historians believe it to be the site of one of the longest sieges in English history. A full six-month siege. With COVID, I think we can appreciate what that lockdown might have felt like!
- In the 16th century, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester lured Queen Elizabeth I to the castle. She did visit it a few times. He spent a lot of money modernizing the castle to impress her and attempt to influence her to marry him. On her last visit, he threw a 19-day extravaganza of events. She basically said, “Thanks for the digs and no man is going to tie me down. I’m married to my county” Buuuurn! In all seriousness, their relationship sounds so intriguing (and could possibly be made into a lifetime movie if it hasn’t already).
[…] preserved and still celebrated. Something different for us to see compared to walking through castles, national trusts, and churches! I about almost ran out there and started to dance with them. Then […]