lady: does anyone know what Ludlow’s like?
wendy: its cute and its got a Castle, my dad was evacuated there as a child during World War 2. When we were children he took us to visit to see where he used to live and play.
At Pendennis castle, a wedding party finished their breakfast then photographic sessions in time for the bride to be whisked away by the whirling winds of passion and tears of happiness mixed with the rain. Beautiful. A groom tackling a kilt would have added a cherry to my experiential cake.
A small sign above an arch in Chepstow castle warns visitors of the back curvature required for navigating the doorways originally designed for the short people of medieval times, in this particular case, the French.
When I told mumzie that I was suprised to find a Castle named after the English King John in Limerick on an Island called Kings Island in English town, Mumzie wrote:
John (lackland) as he was called, was so annoyed that his brothers had their own land, dukedoms etc. that his father gave him
King John was born the 5th and youngest son of King Henry II. All reports of him appear to agree that he was treacherous, cowardly and an ill mannered sloth. He was excommunicated by the Pope and divorcing his first wife well before King Henry VIII. He was the younger brother of King Richard I, Richard Couer de Lion. He ran Britain while Richard was fighting the Holy wars and Robin Hood was doing his legendary deeds in the North of England. Wikipedia has an entry specifically on John’s relationship with Ireland. I suspect you can now see why I was surprised to find a castle named after him, in a predominantly Catholic nation.
Mumzie also had some useful insights on the new ripping yarn in 10 episodes for the TV “The Tudors“:
Terrible history, and script….really corny. Got bad reviews here. Hairstyles a bit ahead of the times, more Elizabethan, and they certainly didn’t have underpants, just long shirts that tucked under.
pre-teenage Wendy to Mum and Dad:
not ANOTHER castle, please no. No more Castles. Look, Castles are made of stone, have dungeons and halls and lots of spiral staircases and are generally falling apart. Once you’ve seen one or two Castle’s you’ve pretty much got the Castle thing covered. Can we go to the beach instead? Please… please…. …or a tin mine?
After 6 years living inn the USA, during a visit to Mum and Dad’s home last year….
Let’s go on a day trip to a Castle or a Stately home, or somewhere maintained by British Heritage, please, anywhere on your list of old places to visit?
Mum and Dad arrive in Seattle tomorrow for a week long holiday. Holy Vacuum Cleaners! Parental cleanliness standards are beyond my comprehension. This means I’ll be spending Satruday blitzing the cat-fluff. There are no Castle’s nearby so I’m going to spring Teatro Zinzanni on them, wish me luck…
