nanila: wrong side of the mirror (me: wrong side of the mirror)
Mad Scientess ([personal profile] nanila) wrote2018-04-04 10:35 pm

Day 94/365: Cawood Castle, the exterior

As I have alluded to in the past few posts, we spent the Easter holidays in a Landmark Trust castle in Yorkshire. Staying in an LT property has become our traditional way to celebrate the bloke's birthday, which is in February. We opted not to celebrate in February this year, given that his birthday (a) did not fall over the half-term break and (b) involved him flying home from Kuala Lumpur on the day. We also figured out that the three-night stays were consistently feeling too short to relax properly, so we went for five nights.

The first installment of the photos shows the exterior of the castle. Castle Cawood has existed in various forms since the early 12th century. The gatehouse portion was constructed by Archbishop Kemp. The castle was ordered destroyed in the 17th century by some grumpy Roundheads.

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Castle gatehouse (stone) with our car parked in front of it, and abandoned banqueting hall (brick). Access to the weathertight (but not habitable) banqueting hall was possible although you had to find the keys first.

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Humuhumu running toward me in front of the castle, wearing a fluffy pink jumper and a crown.

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Keiki in his stripy green jumper, investigating the plethora of molehills in front of the banqueting hall. Apparently some very lavish meals were served there in the 15th and 16th centuries, including on that involved 400 swans.

We discovered that we could access the battlements via the vertigo-inducing spiral staircase that connected all the internal gatehouse rooms. More about the staircase to come in the "castle interior" post.
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Keiki and bloke ascending the spiral staircase.

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Humuhumu was thrilled to be able to run around the battlements. Keiki was interested in the view, but not so enamoured of the wild and windy conditions.

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Humuhumu, bloke and Keiki posing on the battlements with the stormy sky behind them. Keiki: "Daddy, I'm cooooold."

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View from the gatehouse battlements over the neighbouring houses in Cawood. You can see the dainty white arches of the moving bridge over the River Ouse in the middle.

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Looking down from the battlements over the long banqueting hall roof. On the right, a man can be seen walking his dog in the castle garth, which is the village green space, and a very pretty one too. It has a pond surrounded by pine trees, and houses a breeding population of endangered great crested newts.

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The bloke eases himself back into the spiral staircase, carrying Keiki, to descend from the battlements.

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Humuhumu on top of the battlements, waving down to me whilst singing, "I'm the king of the castle."
gwendraith: (Default)

[personal profile] gwendraith 2018-04-05 11:32 am (UTC)(link)
Lovely place and photos. Landmark properties are the best!