[01/11/2013 - 03/11/2013]
Since mum had moved the caravan to Tewkesbury, we decided
to put the dog in the kennel and have a weekend away.
As we’d all always wanted to go to Warwick Castle, and
the interest was recently re-sparked by watching a TV series about the conflict
between the houses of York and Lancaster, we thought as it wasn’t far away, we’d
finally go.
It was a visit of mixed feelings to be honest. The castle
itself is incredible as one would expect, and that’s only the half you can see.
The grounds are vast and the whole thing is rather breath-taking.
That said,
the visit was somewhat ruined by the ridiculous commercialisation that has
befallen it. From what I understand the owners fell on some hard times and had
to make it commercial in order to save it. As sad as it is, I understand that
at the time, it was their only option. The insides of the castle are still mostly
gimmick free and the vast rooms are filled with amazing artefacts from its
history.
The chapel was exceptionally beautiful. As some people were taking the opportunity to pray however I didn't take many photos.
I also like that they have opened up some of the towers and you can
climb to the top for a view that spans miles.
I even enjoyed the somewhat
London Dungeon style dungeon tour which told tales of the time with the use of
actors. I’ve always found that style of storytelling good as it does pull in
visitors and also tells you a lot about the place you’re visiting in a short
period of time.
I didn’t however like the amount of screaming kids
running around, a supposed ‘scary Halloween walk’ which basically consisted of
some plastic pumpkins, tombstones and some fake walls. I fail to see how even
children would have found it frightening and I expected a lot more but we made the most of it and were laughing the whole way round.
They also
had some ghost tour thing, which we didn’t go to but we could see one of the ‘spirits’
in one of the castle windows periodically which clearly demonstrated how silly
it would have been. Finally, as watchers of the TV series ‘Merlin’ we were
eager to see what their Merlin exhibit was all about. It started off shaky,
with us being quite physically forced to take a photo with a fake dragon when
we clearly stated we weren’t interested and moved on to a witty introduction
with Gaius. The room moved, as if by magic haha and was actually quite clever.
Whilst it seemed a bit childish at times, it set a good mood for the rest. We
were then moved on into a room with a screen and benches. A voice over asked
that all the children move to the front, as it obviously had a plan to get them
involved. What we didn’t realise was that this room was the main part of the
exhibit and basically consisted of a dragon on a screen ‘talking’ to the crowd.
It was beyond dull, unexciting and even the children in the room seemed bored
by the end. It was a complete waste of time and money.
As for whether I’d recommend, I’m not sure really. The
building it certainly worth a look around and the views from the tower are
amazing but I’d certainly choose a visiting time wisely as to avoid screaming children
and I’d avoid all of the additional activities unless London Dungeon style
entertainment.
The next day, my dad found the nearest pub to watch some
sporting event…an important rugby game I believe….Me and mum thought we’d take
a stroll and have a look around Tewkesbury Abbey. It was an utterly
breath-taking building and we were eager to take a look inside. Unfortunately, there
was a wedding taking place and so after intriguingly waiting to see the bride,
we quietly left and walked around the town. There were some cute little niche
shops and I loved an expensive cookery shop we found. Later on we went back to
the abbey to have a look but as it was Sunday they were getting ready for
service. They allowed us in and we had a quick walk around before they started.
It is definitely a grand place and lucky that it was saved from dissolution. I
would be keen to have a longer wander around it sometime in the future…
[Woman approaches us and asks if we wanted a photo, we said okay and this is what we end up with lmao]
