Come Rain or Shine: Day Out at Warwick Castle

I am not made for rain, I thought to myself as I gazed outside at the gloomy landscape of Warwick that came rolling past my car window. We’ve had blistering heat for the past week or so, so why is it that today, of all days, that it decided to rain? Not that I was wearing the right clothes, of course; you wouldn’t have thought that I’d be trekking around Warwick Castle with my cute (and incredibly short) skirt, cream blouse and bare legs. At least I had my unicorn print umbrella with me!

Disclaimer: I was invite by Warwick Castle (via Coventry Bloggers) to go along to their summer event and write about my experience.

We were welcomed by a gateway of trees and winding roads that led to the car part situated at the bottom of the hill. Luckily the rain had paused for the moment, and I kept wishing it at bay as we meandered our way up to the castle. It wasn’t long until we found ourselves within the castle grounds, looking up at the grand castle that promised shelter from the stormy grey skies. I took a swift glance down at my ticket to the castle dungeons, and I realised that we had about an hour or so to kill before we had to be there, so we had a little stroll and a peek inside the castle walls. It was dark and gloomy, which only added to the general ‘spookiness’ (because who knows what happened within these walls all of those years ago…).

Time quickly past and soon we were herded inside by a jester, no less, who told us that it was forbidden to take photos or videos whilst in the castle dungeons. I quickly glances at the cameras and phones impaled on the warning sign and thought, message understood. The way down into the dungeons were dark and I silently cursed myself for wearing ridiculous heels, clutching onto my husband’s arm as I tried not to break my neck. My mind was racing manically – was it too late to say that I was a bit of a scaredy cat? – but the door closed behind us and soon we were thrown into darkness. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t scream, but I enjoyed myself far more than I expected to. This is the part in the story where I’m going to skip ahead as to not spoil you with any, well, spoilers, so we’re going to fast forward to the part where we stumbled outside into the weak sunshine and were hit with the sudden realisation that we were going to be late to the next event; the War of the Roses Live.

related post: Let's Get Spooky at Warwick Castle!

We did a mixture of walking and slightly jogging to get to the other side of the castle down by the river, but weren’t able to get any good seats. My eyes darted around as they searched for an opening, and I managed to weave myself into the crowd right to the very front. My heart jumped as I saw a knight ride towards me – not just a knight, a queen! – and I cheered as she held up her joust and began to charge at the opposition. The red roses adorned on the horses’ tack showed that she represented the House of Lancaster, who were – in many years in the future – to be joined with the white rose of York to form the Tudor Rose. It was at that moment that the skies opened up but I was too absorbed in the story and the jousting to notice before I was drenched to the bone because yep, I had left my umbrella with my husband.

Dripping wet, I rejoined my husband and friends and we made our way back up the hill to where seats were laid in wait for the next part of our trip; the Falconer’s Quest. Excitement flew around like butterflies in my stomach as we took a seat nearer to the back so that I didn’t poke anyone’s eye out with my umbrella. I could almost hear the ticking of my non-existent watch as we waited for the show to start. Soon, a man appeared on the river (not quite on the river, of course… He was on a raft on the river, but that’s quite a mouthful to say), and a bird swooped down over the crowd. A cry of exclamation escaped my lips and I soon ditched my umbrella so that I could see them more clearly whilst constantly snapping away on my phone. But it was the condor and the peregrine falcon that really captured my heart, and I was gutted I didn’t get a good shot of the falcon as it had already flown past by the time I clicked the button. More and more birds dived down and wove through the excited crowd and I was sad when it was over.

We trudged our way back towards Warwick Castle where we had one more stroll around the grounds before calling it a day. I did quite enjoy myself despite the rain, although maybe next time I’d ditch my short skirt for something slightly warmer!

Have you been to Warwick Castle before?

Love,
Lizzie xx