Out and about... Framlington Castle...

So after my post about "What do babies want to DO..." I took my own advice and signed husband and I up as English Heritage members. It was a great deal £82 for the two of us for a year but as we signed up to pay for it via Direct Debit (although we paid for it in one lump via Direct Debit not in monthly instalments which I found odd) we got an extra 3 months free. Plus with that we can take in up to six children (under 19) each... although that sounds like a special kind of HELL it's still nice to know we could take our nieces and nephews should the occasion arise.

And for our first outing.... Framlington Castle! About an hour drive from home and looked pretty awesome in the pictures on the website. Unbeknownst to us being a bank holiday they were also holding an event where they were reenacting some siege of something... I forget who and what now (if I am going to go to these historical places it's probably going to be a good tip to spend less time hunched over my camera buttons and more time learning the history). Essentially it meant on top of the castle walls, bizarre house in the middle and surrounding grounds they also had tents demonstrating typical crafts, cooking methods and assorts for the 12th century. It also meant (cringe cringe cringe) there were lots of role players about... which I assume kids would LOVE to get involved with but personally I found it a bit embarrassing to having grown men talk to me in "ye olde" lingo and pretend they don't know why I am in "foreigners clothes" etc (squirm).

So here's an top view of the castle and goings on of the event...

We walked around the top of the castle walls, took some pictures and got a real lung full of fresh air which was a welcome break after what has now been nearly 3 weeks of on-off rain. There were food stalls selling drinks, sandwiches, burgers and (surprisingly) pizzas. Toilet and changing facilities were all fine. Husband even reported the portable loos they got in to take the extra visitors (due to the event) were surprisingly pleasant. It was lovely! Well worth what would have been £13 for two adults (works out we will have to do a minimum of 7 days out like this over 15 months to get our money back... not bad at all in my opinion!) My only criticism would is that the best views of the castle and the surrounding scenery, moat etc were from the castle walls which was definitely NOT a buggy a friendly route and potentially not safe enough to carry baby around either (personally). BUT we're still very excited by the novelty of our Bjorn baby carrier so need little excuse to get this out the car boot...

All in all great bank hols! Highly recommended! Go join the English Hertiage and have some historical family time! :D