Castles- word of the week

Strictly speaking, there is only one castle in this post, but I reckon the rest are castles in their own right, if not by name. We’ve made the most of everyone being home to re-explore local places over the Easter break. It’s amazing how much the children forget. “Oh is that the place…..?” seems to be a common start to a question, at the moment. Give it five years and the place is new to them again.

In no particular order, these are the places we visited, this week. I’ll post more about a few of them in the next few weeks, but here is a sliver of each place.

Bishop’s Palace, Wells

We pop in here most years. It’s one of my favourites. You can go in parts of the Palace, but I love the gardens. The planting among the ruined walls is worth seeing. The natural springs provide water features. There are also a walled garden, a dragon’s lair and some of the best kept allotments I’ve ever seen. There are meadow areas and places to meditate. I love the contrasts. Usually we go in the summer. It was lovely to see it with the spring flowers.

I especially loved the tulips. It was overcast and my photos don’t do it justice at all.  When you’re there, the tulips among the silver birch seem to float like fairies bobbing around above the long grass. It is like a painting. I’m inspired to try something similar at home. Definite tulip envy.

Farleigh Hungerford Castle

We’ve not been to the castle for a few years. Overcast day again, but we took a picnic and enjoyed it among the ruins. It’s always good when we can take the hound with us too.

Last time we went, I read all the information boards to the children. They’d wander off before I reached the bottom. This time, they read it and added their own knowledge to the day. It’s fascinating to see the change and hear the interesting extra niblets from their History lessons.

The Museum of Asian Art

I’ll admit, I didn’t know this museum was in Bath. Totally passed me by. It is in a Georgian town house just off the Circus in Bath. A fascinating collection of artefacts and photos. The teens loved it. Between them they are studying Art and Chinese, so it was a timely visit.

The visit has inspired a craft project, which I will share another time.

Concorde

Back in 2003, we went to Clifton, Bristol, to see the last Concorde’s final flight into Filton. Eldest was a toddler and I have a photo of her sitting on her Dad’s shoulders watching it fly one last time. She doesn’t remember, obviously. This week, we went to Filton to see it again.

It’s in its own hangar now. Before you reach it, there are other aircraft and engines to see, which are just as fascinating. You need to allow yourself a couple of hours to do it justice.

You can go into the plane, but only view the cockpit through a see through door. I love all the buttons and switches. I remember when I was a child going on board one of the Concordes and being allowed to sit in the captain’s seat, but I guess the seat would soon wear out if everyone did that now.

Concorde is not a conventional castle, I’ll grant you, but they were castles in the sky in their day.  No need to fortify them. Faster than a bullet, they would never have cut it as a military plane (they’d shot themselves down 😉 ).

If you have any budding engineers, it is definitely worth a visit. I’ll write more another time.

 

Easter

Easter Sunday was fun. We fitted in our traditional breakfast of boiled eggs with smiley faces. I got a slight kick from using our own eggs, thanks to our new flock of chickens. They lay a mix of white and brown eggs. I used the white ones from our Leghorns for breakfast, as it’s easier to draw on them. I cannot begin to tell you how good it is to have our own laying hens again.

Squeezed in a bit of gardening time, before heading off for lunch at the Grandparents, who we’ve not seen since Christmas. Followed by a walk in the woods.

We’ve packed so much into this week. The children have gone to visit friends too, so it really has been a busy time. They are back to school and Uni next week. It will feel very quiet without them. I might catch up with some of my jobs, but not yet. Judging by the calendar, we have another busy weekend.

Joining in with Anne’s word of the week, after a few months’ gap. Waves. Remember me? My word is castles.