Arundel

So for our day without any events we found a castle about 3 hours of a train ride south of London to go to. The name of the castle is Arundel Castle which was constructed for the Duke of Norfolk and the family still lives there today. So we only got to see part of the castle and were not able to see the private garden. You could pick through a small window and see a small part of the private garden. They had a very nice tennis court and of course a trampoline for the "adults." They did forbid us from taking any photos inside the castle, which had an awesome library with 10,000 plus books, one of the better armories, several bedrooms, drawing rooms, and the great hall. I suppose they want you to visit to see the inside of the castle. So everyone needs to go if you are in England. Laura said it was actually more impressive than Warwick castle, which is the Disney world of castles in England. We decided to go to this one since it wasn't as crowded with tourist and the fact it was joust week!!! We did get to see a beautiful garden that was on the grounds of the castle, just not inside of the castle. The jousting was amazing! If you have ever watched the jousting show on the History channel it is pretty much exactly like that. They take it very seriously and everyone is dressed in full armor. When you look at the pictures there is one photo with a guy pretty much hitting the other guy in the head with his lance. The poor chap that got hit in the head feel off of his horse shortly after he got to the end of the jousting line. There were other activies that took place all around the grounds that included some blacksmithing and wood crafting. On one part of the grounds they were sword fighting. And even though it was for entertainment these guys were very competitive as you will see from the photos. One chap got hit in his throat and was actually checking to see if he was bleeding! OUCH! But I think it would be a blast to do that! The kids had a lot of fun on the Storytime area playing out the story of Robin Hood. Well it is after 10 here and I still need to post some photos of the day for you and I have to be in London at 8am tomorrow for our fist event, shooting. So enjoy...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what happens if you leave your bike alone in Oxford!