Beeston Castle

This afternoon we took a trip to Beeston Castle, a thirteenth century castle built on a sandstone crag 350 feet above the Cheshire plain. The views from the top are simply amazing. Apparently you can see eight counties on a clear day. The castle itself is absolutely fascinating and is a testament to thirteenth century engineering.

The Podlings had a fantastic time running about and playing with the wooden swords we bought them in the gift shop. We thought their enjoyment of our castle visits would be enhanced with weaponry and sure enough they had a great time trying to slay the Daddy Dragon, who was rather defenceless against their onslaught! "Surrender or die!" was Lily's battle cry, which I think she got out of her King Arthur book as she seemed a little unclear what surrender actually meant!

As we walked back down the hill from the castle we were lucky enough to see dozens of rabbits frolicking about on the grass. We had seen their burrows on the way up, so it was a real treat for the Podilngs to see the rabbits themselves on the way down.

After we left the castle, we drove to Delamere Forest where we enjoyed a lovely picnic under the trees. There was more running about and sword play before driving home and putting three sleepy little Podlings to bed.

Typically Lily picked out a sword that was twice the size of those chosen by the other two!

The gateway to the inner ward of the castle is reached via a modern bridge over an impressive ditch.

The inner ditch was dug out by hand in the thirteenth century. A truly impressive feat as it is no small ditch and they were digging through rock. It wasn't quite deep enough to set off my vertigo, but it was close.

The views from the top were stunning

'Surrender or die!'

What does Mark do in the woods?

He drinks tea of course!

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