Warwick Castle

Today we spent the whole day at Warwick castle, where I basically took loads of photos. I will add some extras. It was a really lovely day (not just 'nice' Alan) Warm and sunny weather, dry too.

We walked around all parts of the castle that were open, although not everything was. Luckily there were not many visitors so easy to distance from others. The only negative part was the cost of entry, and cost of food and drink inside. Certainly not something most people could do with a family. So today, for two adults it was £52 entry. Coffee and no cakes £7+ mid morning,and lunch of a sandwich (like you buy in Boots, £6.50) I guess it is what you expect in these places, but I worked out we spent £84 in total, and didnt get anything fancy, and avoided the gift shop. It then also costs £6 to park. That is paid for as you leave, using contactless to open the barrier. I think that is the cost that is the greediest as you can't not park, and you don't go anywhere else apart from the castle. In the end, the barrier wasn't working properly and wouldn't take our card, and with a queue behind us, one of the workers in a yellow jacket just let us out, so we saved £6.

The best part of our day, was watching a falconry display. I can't remember all the birds, but beginning with a barn owl, then an eagle owl, we also saw a bald eagle, a Harris hawk, a condor (it was huge) white tailed sea eagle and then another huge bird of prey which he flew a pair of. At the end they let out a whole flock of kites. An excellent display which made the fee more acceptable. We could have watched it all day.

We left at 3.30 and parked just outside in the road so that we could walk into the main town. We passed under one of the two remaining city gates; it originally would have had a wall around the city. The streets surrounding the castle and within the area of the walls are full of properties of character. I don't know how old, but spanning hundreds of years. A really pretty area.

Home to the caravan feeling quite tired. But I am desperate to finish my book - the 5th one in the Shardlake series and set in the 15th century. So much of what we saw today, and also yesterday in the museum at Evesham linked to the demolished Abbey is similar to events in my book, and brought a lot of what I am reading to life, enabling me to visualise it!

Watched Bake Off tonight. Now finishing my book...