The first day of our Warwick and Cotswolds trip was spent in Warwick, roaming around Warwick Castle and the city of Warwick. The Castle was erected by William the conquerer in 1068 AD. It is built on the banks of the river Avon in the county of Warwickshire.
The castle was surrounded by expansive gardens and many Indian peacocks were roaming around freely. One of them was feeling particularly amorous and kept on chasing a peahen with its magnificient wings spread wide. Every few seconds, it would shake the wings so that they shivered in tune with some private song playing its heart. And I could not believe that I was witnessing the legendary peacock dance.
The outer wall and one of the towers of the Warwick Castle. The Castle was fairly intact considering how old it actually is. The ground was lush green and the grey Castle stood out in stark contrast with it.
Kelsey and Hannah in front of the tall gates of the castle. Surrounding the castle was a moat that is no longer filled with water.
Once you walk into the gates, you find yourself in an open space surrounded by centuries-old walls and towers. When we went there, we found that it was quite crowded with many other coaches visiting the castle at the same time. Roaming amongst them were several employees of the castle who had dressed up in period costumes.
Look at this beautiful lady and her maid who's helping her get dressed. The dress itself is lavish and royal. And now to reveal the secret. These aren't actual people. They are statues.
Another employee dressed in period costume. Some were friendly while some seemed to plainly hate their jobs. It must be stressful to dress up in the same costume day-after-day and try to interact with visitors.
Just a stuffed bear. Hunting must've been a popular sport back then. I'm glad the trends have changed now.
Not only were people dressed up, there were some animals as well. Here's a horse with a knight on its back. I'm glad that none of them are real. I was wondering how horses felt about dressing up in such uncomfortable gear. Nobody asked them ever I'm sure.
Another horse statue and this one in a much more comfortable attire. Though that metal thing on its face seems extremely restrictive. However, this horsey's tale swished and it occassionally batted its eyelids. So I think this one wasn't so miserable.
The main residential and administrative buildings of the castle. On the far left was a Gael (pronounced Jail and means Jail too). I'll take you inside soon. The picture was clicked from the top of the Castle Wall.
This is the insides of the Gael and hanging on the top is a Gibbet one of the torture devices used in medieval times for criminals like murderers and sheep stealers. Why sheep stealers though, I cannot imagine. Anyways bodies of ciminals were usually suspended in these after they had been executed to set an example for other criminals. Worse still, sometimes people were gibbetted alive and starved to death in public places. Needless to say, the public were not having it and such practices often backfired against the monarchs.
Somewhere on the grounds we found a skeleton trying to escape its grave. Hannah made friends with it and it does look happy as a result. *grin* *wink* *grin*
A boathouse behind the castle on the opposite bank of the river Avon. This picture was also clicked from the top of the castle walls.
Hope you enjoyed this brief walk inside the castle. Before this we've been to Banbury. Here's a link to that post: A Chance Stop at Banbury
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