This weekend we travelled up the M6 to the greenery of Cheshire, staying overnight on a voucher deal (more on that tomorrow). We were about a mile and a half from Beeston Castle, which is run by English Heritage, so we planned to drop the car off at the hotel and walk to the castle, have a mooch around and take some pictures.
When I checked the website last week, I was thrilled to find that there was an event on at the castle – Clash of the Knights. This involved a tournament of 4 teams clashing on the battlefield in a re-enactment of medieval Britain. A historical camp was set up and there were demonstrations of clothing and weapons, plus music and areas for children to battle against each other (although the weapons weren’t real, obvs!)
We took a picnic.
And cheered on the knights.
(did you know that shields, contrary to popular belief – and Hollywood representations – were made of wood? Metal would be too heavy and dent easily, plus if someone hit a metal shield the knight holding it would get painful reverberations up their arm. Wood is lighter and more forgiving. Shields would be thrown away at the end of each battle and replaced for the next one).
Then we climbed up to the castle ruins.
At the bottom of the hill are the remnants of what would have been the ramparts. The views were stunning.
The castle ruins are up a rather steep hill, and an even steeper slope.
But again the views are fabulous – 360 degrees of countryside.
We had a fabulous afternoon of sunshine, fresh air and history. A perfect Saturday!
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