First School Trip

This is what Skipton castle looks like in Summer. It did not look like this yesterday,ROFL!




Well, despite the Biblical weather, we made it! Turns out that it's an easy jouney from our local town to North Yorks, only an hour on a bus journey that if the weather had been better would have been fab for some proper Postman Pat scenery. We met good ol Uncle James who'd nabbed the day off work, in Skipton centre, and after Rach bought a new umbrella - her insistence - we made our way castle wards.

Here we are at Skipton Castle!





It really isn't possible in this picture to see quite how massively torrential the rain was, but I assure you we went past 'drowned rat' stage by about lunchtime. Nevertheless, we had a great time, and the castle itself is beautiful. Here are the kids on the steps in the 'Conduit Court'......which was a gorgeous courtyard, with a yew tree in the centre planted by Lady Anne Clifford in 1659:
Note this is not our picture, hence the sun! We were very lucky in a way, given the weather, we had the place pretty much to ourselves - one couple with a dog who appeared in the first room of teh castle then buggered off. That was IT. The staff were in the ticket booth in the gatehouse, and in the gift shop on the other side of the battlements - theactual castle area was totally empty, we had the run of the place for the whole hour we were there which was somewhat weird but really really cool... We followed the childrens guide to the letter room by room, but me and Rach didn't go in the dungeon - v steep steps, and with Sam on my back and Rach a natural panicker, James had to take them down. Always handy to have a third adult on hand, bless him.

Everyone fully enjoyed themselves, and although formal learning wasn't very high on the agenda, it was nice for the kids to fully appreciate the sheer magnitude of even a small castle like Skipton. In the watchtower you could really see how thick the walls were, because at a later date the walls had been reduced, presumably for space, like thus:They climbed up and looked out of the window, and sat on the windowsill you can see there, and you really could see for miles. We also peeked through a few arrow slots, although Callum's so thin he could quite possibly have squeezed through, so we put a stop to that before Rach's heart arrested.
Also it was interesting to learn that during the civil war, Skipton was the last stronghold in the north to hold out for King Charles, and only surrendered following a siege that lasted THREE YEARS! Which boggled Callum's mind as his guess was a couple of weeks. It wa great though to see them charge round the castle like they owned the place - when you go in a school group or at weekends, they are usual jammed full of people and staff telling you to slow down and be careful - they certainly were appreciative of the experience, which is what counts. Obviously being kids their favourite bit was the dungeons, although they were a bit miffed when we learned that noone had ever actually been tortured there,only held prisoner!

Anyhow - we nipped in the obligotory gift shop and bought a castle book and the kids chose a suitably naff trinket each,lol, before making our way slowly home, knackered and very damp but satisfied that they had done something memorable. If the weather is better Monday we may well try searching for the castle ruins which claim to be just twenty minutes walk away so watch this space...