![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The interior of the castle gatehouse was as imposing as the exterior, with very high ceilings and carefully chosen furnishings in the two rooms that took up the bulk of the building's footprint. The other rooms (tiny kitchen, tiny toilet and one very narrow bathroom with a tub) were added on by the Landmark Trust. The bathrooms could only be accessed via the intimidating Spiral Staircase of Reckoning, which gave one pause in the evenings when pouring the next glass of wine.
I keep talking about the staircase, so here it is. My dSLR is shoved up against the central pillar and the camera body is lying on one of the steps. The ceiling (which is the top of that round structure on the battlements you can see in the previous post) is about three metres from the camera lens.
Alcove in the first-floor room with beautiful leaded glass windows. The wooden chair, table and bowl harmonised wonderfully with it. Not sure what Squishy Orange Cat was doing in the bowl. Anyway, if you look closely at the leaded glass you can see that some panes are delicately tinted orange and green.
The wooden bowl from above.
Keiki showing off his tummy at the dining table. Behind him you can see the opposing alcove with its large wooden bureau.
Cousins in the bed together, watching Hey Duggee on the tablet after breakfast.
This is a view of the spiral staircase from the tiny toilet about six steps below the level of the first-floor room. Sorry for being so staircase-obsessed here, but conquering my fear of the darn thing enough to enjoy its craftmanship was one of my great achievements during our time here.
Keiki and Humuhumu exploring the upstairs room, with twin beds. We had originally intended for this to be their room, but it ended up mostly being just Humuhumu's as we didn't trust Keiki not to come sleepily down the spiral staircase in the morning and suffer a tumble.
View of the blazing fire in the fireplace from the four-poster bed. Humuhumu is snuggled up in her "princess bed" on the sofa as close to the fire as possible.
Here is Keiki asleep in said four-poster bed.
After taking the above photos, I may have hung over the sofa to check on the sleeping pink-cheeked Humuhumu one more time.
One of the privileges of staying in the castle's gatehouse was having access to the neighbouring banqueting hall. Its exterior was restored and made weather- (and trespasser-)tight but the interior has been cleared out and left roughly as it might have looked in the days it was in use, except without furniture.
Interior of the banqueting hall, where it's surprisingly easy to imagine a long table creaking under the weight of 400 roasted swans.
The first part of entering the banqueting hall was finding the keys, which are stashed away inside the gatehouse. Check out the size of them. Those are the bloke's hands.
We have the keys to the banqueting hall!
Having successfully deployed the keys, the bloke, Keiki, and Humuhumu entered the banqueting hall.
The bloke watched patiently whilst Humuhumu and Keiki dashed up and down the hall.
The windows are without glass, but covered with sturdy mesh to deter trespassers. And, we presumed, pigeons.
After the children had run up and down the length of it shouting and occasionally falling over a sufficient number of times, we left the banqueting hall to its musty memories.
I keep talking about the staircase, so here it is. My dSLR is shoved up against the central pillar and the camera body is lying on one of the steps. The ceiling (which is the top of that round structure on the battlements you can see in the previous post) is about three metres from the camera lens.
Alcove in the first-floor room with beautiful leaded glass windows. The wooden chair, table and bowl harmonised wonderfully with it. Not sure what Squishy Orange Cat was doing in the bowl. Anyway, if you look closely at the leaded glass you can see that some panes are delicately tinted orange and green.
The wooden bowl from above.
Keiki showing off his tummy at the dining table. Behind him you can see the opposing alcove with its large wooden bureau.
Cousins in the bed together, watching Hey Duggee on the tablet after breakfast.
This is a view of the spiral staircase from the tiny toilet about six steps below the level of the first-floor room. Sorry for being so staircase-obsessed here, but conquering my fear of the darn thing enough to enjoy its craftmanship was one of my great achievements during our time here.
Keiki and Humuhumu exploring the upstairs room, with twin beds. We had originally intended for this to be their room, but it ended up mostly being just Humuhumu's as we didn't trust Keiki not to come sleepily down the spiral staircase in the morning and suffer a tumble.
View of the blazing fire in the fireplace from the four-poster bed. Humuhumu is snuggled up in her "princess bed" on the sofa as close to the fire as possible.
Here is Keiki asleep in said four-poster bed.
After taking the above photos, I may have hung over the sofa to check on the sleeping pink-cheeked Humuhumu one more time.
One of the privileges of staying in the castle's gatehouse was having access to the neighbouring banqueting hall. Its exterior was restored and made weather- (and trespasser-)tight but the interior has been cleared out and left roughly as it might have looked in the days it was in use, except without furniture.
Interior of the banqueting hall, where it's surprisingly easy to imagine a long table creaking under the weight of 400 roasted swans.
The first part of entering the banqueting hall was finding the keys, which are stashed away inside the gatehouse. Check out the size of them. Those are the bloke's hands.
We have the keys to the banqueting hall!
Having successfully deployed the keys, the bloke, Keiki, and Humuhumu entered the banqueting hall.
The bloke watched patiently whilst Humuhumu and Keiki dashed up and down the hall.
The windows are without glass, but covered with sturdy mesh to deter trespassers. And, we presumed, pigeons.
After the children had run up and down the length of it shouting and occasionally falling over a sufficient number of times, we left the banqueting hall to its musty memories.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
The castle and the banquet hall are beautiful, though.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
But, outside of that, I am super jealous of you for being able to stay there. What a beautiful place.
From:
no subject
It always feels like a great privilege, staying in an LT building. Most of them were in ruins before the trust restored them.
From:
no subject
I don't blame you for feeling that way!
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
We discovered, after climbing the very long spiral staircase of Prague's Powder Tower, that L is apparently a touch phobic of them -- like, it seems like a weird mix of claustrophobia and acrophobia, in that high open spaces don't bother her unduly, and enclosed spaces in which you're not or can't tell you're high up (caves, closets, elevators) don't bother her at all, but specifically spiral staircases do. (I love them myself, but would probably not appreciate being separated from the bathroom by one... :P)
From:
no subject
I went up the Powder Tower years ago - I remember it well. I have sympathy with L. I was able to conquer my initial vertigo-induced revulsion enough to get used to using the spiral staircase in this place, but I wouldn't say I was comfortable with it.