Cotswold Lavender

There’s a 75% chance that this does not appeal your demographic.

Not far from Broadway are the world-famous lavender fields, where they grow and process lavender. Lavender is a plant — a flower, I think, though not a very big one. And the fields of lavender are pretty to drive by and look at. What is kind of silly is charging you to visit. Not silly that the owners charge — they have every right to profit off their creation — but silly that there is demand enough to make a business out of it.

This is what it looks like up close.

My wife is a photographer, and she wanted to take some pretty pictures of the lavender, which she did. Some that she took of my daughter with a narrow depth of field were stunning. I’d post an example here, but last time I posted a picture of my daughter, she made me take it down. She’s 13, and sensitive about what I post about her on social media.

She also had no desire to be marched into the lavender fields to be shot with a camera. She is not the target demographic of this attraction, I reckon. Neither was my 10 year-old son. Nor me. I waited patiently outside the fields; no reason to pay from something I wouldn’t appreciate.

So if my family is anything to go by, only about 1 in 4 of you will like the lavender fields.

Since I feel like I am underselling the lavender fields, let me add some positive to this. It wasn't too expensive: £3.50 for adults and £2.50 for children under 15 (children under 5 are free — yay!). That may seem like a lot to go look at a bunch of lavender growing, but growing lavender is at least as exciting as grass, and it won’t waste your whole day like Warwick Castle.

A second positive is that there is also a gift shop where you can buy all things lavender. Ever wanted to eat lavender? They have jams infused with lavender, bread with lavender, lavender candy. You can buy pictures of lavender, lavender calendars, and, of course, potpourri, which I think is the only legitimate use for lavender.

Warwick Castle

A tourist trap.

As a commercial entity, it is neither English Heritage nor National Trust, so you will have to pay full price for your entry, plus £6 for parking (which (1) you only find out after you park there, and (2) the parking lot is a 15-to-20-minute walk from the castle). Depending on your level of entry and the age of your children, expect to pay around £100 for a family of 4.

No audio tour. This castle is not intended to educate you on the castle and its history, but rather to entertain you. Unfortunately, they come up short on the entertainment side. What you won’t learn on your visit to Warwick Castle is how it was built by William the Conqueror and was held by the powerful Earls of Warwick for several hundred years. The history is quite fascinating, so you should watch the documentary Secrets of Great British Castles on Netflix instead.

The hedge maze. Probably the worst one in the British Isles. The hedges are so low and sparse that it would be impossible to get lost in it. Not to mention that all paths converge anyway on some cheesy “educational” play areas. As with many touristy spots in June, the place is overrun with school groups, but even the kids in school were noticeably bored with the maze. Our ten year-old son was not entertained by it, though he was more diplomatic than I: “Enh, not the best.”

The dungeons. Cost an extra £9 per person, and totally not worth it. Really cheesy, not scary at all. Pretty much just caricatures of medieval stereotypes.  And, by the way, your £9 did not cover the pictures they try to sell you at the end for £20. Skip it. Your time is better spent walking back to the parking lot.

It wasn't all negative, however. Several rooms have been decorated or furnished, and the arms and armor collection is quite good.

Arms and armor display at Warwick Castle. The Tower of London's is better, though.

The best part of our visit was the longbow demonstration. England was famed for its longbowmen in the Middle Ages. A war bow could shoot up to a quarter of a mile, but the bow that was used for our demonstration was a 6'7" hunting longbow with about half the draw weight of a war bow. Still, the bowman reckoned he could shoot an arrow clear over Warwick Castle with a full draw. Due to its difficulty to master, English law required children of all classes to train on the bow at least once a week from the age of 6. This constant training was required to build up the strength to draw a full-size battle longbow and also to gain an instinct as to how the arrow will fly. The bowman never aimed his bow, he just pointed and shot. And hit. I have a video of him shooting 4 arrows in pretty quick succession at a man-sized target about 200 feet distant, and hitting all 4 in the chest.

Nock! Draw! Loose!

I also wanted to catch the trebuchet demonstration, since I have never seen a trebuchet fire in real life. However, our dungeon passes were timed for 3 o’clock, which meant we stood in line for half an hour before we were admitted to the cheesy dungeon tour around 3:30. And by the time we emerged from the dungeons, it was 4:10. We hustled down to the demo, hoping we would not have missed it — it started at 4 — but by 4:15 it was all over. I’m a bit annoyed at that.

All told, I cannot recommend Warwick Castle. Their website makes it seem like a wonderfully entertaining experience, but it wasn’t, and it was expensive. Save the money for something else. You will get a lot more out of visiting other, better castles, which I have already written about.

Broadway Tower

If you're staying in Broadway, an interesting side trip.

Ever since I first visited Broadway 2 years ago, I have wanted to hike up to the top of the hill to Broadway Tower. But no-one in my family ever wanted to join me. This time around, I decided to go, alone if necessary. Which it was.

Sunday was an off day for us. In the morning I took my son to the excellent playground they have here in town, but in the afternoon, everyone else wanted to rest, so I took the opportunity to hike up the hill.

The 1000-foot climb begins with a warning to dogs:

Despite that, there were quite a number of hikers who had brought their dogs along, and not all of them were on a leash.

The hill was quite steep, but my military training from two decades ago kicked in, and I persevered. To stop and rest would have been the end, so I just put one foot in front of the other all the way up the hill. I am proud of the fact that I, a 45 year-old fat guy, overtook absolutely everyone I saw hiking up the hill.

Halfway up. Because I refused to stop on my way up, this picture was actually taken when I was halfway down going the other way.

By the time I got to the top, I was hot and sweating, but the cool Cotswolds breeze was such a pleasant reward. And the view from the top of the tower, which, it being a clear day, you could see clear into Wales 50 miles away.

Some of the history of the tower is on display. The tower was used as an observation post to spot and track enemy airplanes during World War II.  During the Cold War, it became a nuclear observation post to assist in case of nuclear war. I took a tour of the bunker they had there, which was very interesting, and also kind of chilling. It reminded me how serious the Cold War had been. It was reckoned that Soviet missiles could strike England within 4 minutes of launch being detected, so the bunker was equipped with telecommunications equipment to get the word out, and the staff of the bunker had a 4-minute drill to fire off the sirens and batten down the hatches, and then measure impact, radiation, and fallout. The bunker was in operation until 1991. Despite there being some 1500 bunkers in operation during the Cold War (you were never more the 10 miles from one), the one at Broadway Tower is one of the few that have been preserved for tourists.

There were 20,000 sirens throughout Britain during the Cold War to give people a 4-minute warning of nuclear attack. What could you do in 4 minutes? Well, for one, every 12 inches of brick you could put between yourself and the outside would reduce your radiation exposure by 50%.

The hike would have been miserable with my family, so I cannot recommend it as a family-friendly activity. Your kids would complain all the way up, and it would take about 5 times as long. On the other hand, it is an opportunity for you to get away from your kids. :-)

Cliveden House

 Family-friendly if you’re a millionaire.

On our way from Kent to Broadway, we got caught in traffic trying to get around London, so by mid-afternoon, we were looking for a place to stop and take a break. Cliveden House (pronounced klivden) is located about halfway between London and Oxford, so we decided to stop there and have a look around. It is a National Trust property, so admission and parking are free if you are a member. Cliveden House is an active hotel, but as a visitor, you park away from the main building and walk the rest of the way to the house. Fortunately, the walk is not unpleasant, and you pass a very attractive fountain on the way.

The Fountain of Love

When you arrive at the main building, they don't exactly welcome you in. You must find your own way around the building to get to the other side where the grounds are. Having made your way around, the grounds are pleasant, but your children will not appreciate it. There are lots of pretty estates and gardens in England, and this is also one.

After wandering the fields a while — we could use a good walk after several hours in the car — we finally decided to enter the hotel building. We were not welcomed, but we asked whether we could have a cup of tea and something to eat. Once we decided to spend money there, everyone was super nice to us. We were seated quickly and shown the menu, and after we ordered tea, we took a look around the room we were in. Absolutely beautiful, with John Singer Sargent’s finest work, a portrait of Nancy Astor on display. The tea was among the best I have ever had — better than the one we had had at the Goring Hotel 2 years earlier — so if you want to experience a traditional English afternoon tea, this is a better choice (better and cheaper) than the Goring.

This is what a £25 cup of tea looks like.

I exaggerate a little. You don’t just get a cup of tea for that price.  You also get a full selection of sandwiches, scones, and sweets. It is practically a full meal, so if you look at it that way, considering the décor and the service, it isn’t bad value for money.

Kids typically don't like gardens, and adults typically don’t like shelling out £25 for a cup of tea (and some sandwiches), so probably shouldn’t be tops on your list of places to visit while in England. However, if one of your goals is to experience a formal English afternoon tea, Cliveden House is an excellent place for that, I totally recommend it for that purpose. Take the afternoon and stroll the grounds and enjoy. Your children may get bored with the strolling, but they will enjoy the tea. Spoil yourself!

There is also a hedge maze you can promise your kids if they're good.

Bodiam Castle

“The popular ideal of a medieval castle.” — Charles Coulson

If you were asked to construct a castle, you would construct Bodiam Castle. It is the prototypical medieval castle: rectangular with round towers at the corners, moat, courtyard. Perhaps because this was just a minor castle, it did not turn into a sprawling defensive complex like many of its larger cousins. Although in ruins today, this beautiful castle is worth a visit if you're passing through East Sussex.

Built by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge in 1385 to defend the area from a French invasion during the Hundred Years War, Bodiam Castle was erected quickly and all in the same style, which accounts for its consistent design. No French invasion came during the Hundred Years War, but the castle did see action during the War of the Roses in 1483, and was slighted (as were many castles) during the English Civil War of the 17th century.  After that, it decayed into a picturesque ruin until restored in the 20th century.  In the 20th century, some defenses were erected surrounding the castle to defend the area from a feared German invasion (which, like the French invasion of 600 years earlier, never came).

Today it is worth visiting as a compact example of a medieval castle.  It is beautiful, you can climb all the way to the top, and small enough that it can be covered in its entirety within an hour or two.

The Battle of Hastings

An interesting place, but as much can be gained by staying at home and watching a documentary on the Battle of Hastings.

Pretty much what you'll be looking at when you visit: fields and sheep.

No battle has had a greater impact on the English-speaking peoples than the Battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066. The battle changed forever the nature of English, both the culture and the language.  England, which had previously been more of a Scandinavian country was to become more western European, with the Gallic influence of the conquering Normans. To celebrate his victory, William the Conqueror constructed an abbey at the site of this pivotal battle. We visited Battle Abbey and took the audio tour around the battlefield and abbey.

Battle Abbey is English Heritage, so admittance is free to English Heritage members. Parking is a nominal £1 for members. (£3.50 for non-members, but why would you visit England without joining English Heritage?) The audio tour is included in the price of admission (which is free for members), and we recommend audio tours with families, as it allows each member of the family to learn about the site and proceed at their own pace.

The tour takes you first through a museum which explores the circumstances and reasons for the invasion and lets you see and touch some of the weapons used by both sides. The English forces had defeated Norwegian forces at the Battle of Stamford Bridge just 3 weeks earlier — a battle that ended once and for all the Viking attacks that had harried England for the previous 300 years, and which would have today surely been considered one of the most important battles in English history were it not for the Battle of Hastings. What King Harold's forces did was remarkable, marching the entire length of England, 185 miles in 4 days, to defeat the invading Norwegians and kill their king, and they then turned around and force-marched back south to face William's invading Normans.

After the museum, you proceed to the battlefield and circle around below the hill where William had assembled his forces, and then back up the hill to the abbey, where the English forces defended. The fields are today used by grazing sheep, so you will find yourself dodging sheep dung throughout the walk. Still, you will learn much about how the battle proceeded on that fateful day.

More fields. The view up the hill from the Norman positions to the English.

When you return up the hill to the remains of the abbey (like all English abbeys, the abbey was destroyed by Henry VIII), you are pretty much left on your own, and while you can explore the ruins, no additional history is provided through the audio tour. It should also be noted that most of the property at the top of the hill is off-limits, as there is today an active school where the abbey once stood.

The remains of Battle Abbey.

The Battle of Hastings was no doubt of great importance, so visiting the battlefield seems like a good idea, but I am ambivalent about its suitability as a tourist attraction for families with children. I love history and therefore appreciate the site, but the visit is nothing spectacular; you are mainly walking around some fields dodging sheep dung and learning about the battle from the audio device. You would get as much by staying home and watching a documentary on the battle. The abbey was also fairly underwhelming, and there are much better specimens of ruined abbeys in England (Fountains Abbey is by far the best, but even Hailes Abbey, although almost completely destroyed, provides a better audio tour and a better education on life in a medieval monastery). I think a visit to Battle Abbey can probably be skipped by a family with limited time.

Canterbury Cathedral – Evensong

I have made no secret of my love of the English evensong services.  Whenever we travel to a place with a cathedral, we make a point of attending one of their evening services.  Canterbury Cathedral is one of the most famous and venerated cathedrals in Britain, so while in eastern Kent, we stayed the afternoon and attended the cathedral's evening program.

Christian services have been conducted at the site of Canterbury Cathedral for at least 1,400 years.  (Contemporary accounts say that it was built on the site of an even older Roman church, but modern archaeologists have been unable to confirm that.)  The current building was constructed in the late 11th century after the previous cathedral burned down in 1067.  To be frank, the cathedral shows its age.  It is beautiful, I cannot deny that, but much of it is covered with scaffolding, and it just looks old.  We will be revisiting Salisbury Cathedral later this trip, and I will see if my memory is playing tricks on me or not, or whether Salisbury really is in better shape than Canterbury.

At any rate, Canterbury is still an absolutely beautiful cathedral, and the evening service we attended was sung by the resident girls' choir accompanied by a lay choir.  It had been two years since I had attended an evensong service, and while I had remembered how lovely they are, I had forgotten just how lovely they are.  The choristers sounded like angels, and in the millennium-old quire (yes, another advantage of attending these evensong services is gaining access to the quire), it is truly a religious experience.  A pleasant time for prayer and reflection.  If I lived or worked near Canterbury Cathedral, I would attend every night.

For any families of religious persuasion, I recommend attending evensong services wherever you can when you visit England.

(Incidentally, something I discovered after the fact: girls have only been permitted to sing in Canterbury's choir for just 2 years.  When we visited, it was the girls' last performance of the year, and they were bidding farewell to five of their members.  The minister said it would be an emotional farewell, and now that I know how young the girls' choir is, I imagine several of the departing members were members of that first inaugural choir that sang in Canterbury Cathedral in 2014.)

Dover Castle

As the largest castle in England, Dover Castle is really a must-see.  But its size isn't the only thing that distinguishes it.  The history of the castle is second to none (with the possible exception of the Tower of London), having seen action from the 13th century to the 20th.  And because it has been in active use for all these centuries (and it was not destroyed during the English Civil War), it is relatively well-preserved.  Dress warmly, though, since it can get quite windy up at the top of the castle.

Few castles can boast of being able to withstand a nuclear attack, but Dover Castle was designated to be the regional seat of government in the case of a nuclear war.  For 900 years, Dover Castle has stood watch for England, repulsing waves of invaders over the centuries, from the French invasion in the 13th century to the German bombs of World War II.  Display cases at Dover Castle display weapons of war spanning its entire history, from medieval axe heads to Napoleonic cannons, to fragments of German bombs that were dropped on it.

The location of Dover Castle itself had been fortified for some 1,100 years before Henry II laid out his great castle there in the 12th century.  When you arrive, you will have to drive up some narrow, winding roads to get to the car park.  (You really should join English Heritage to get both free parking and free admission.)  From the parking lot, you are already within the Dover Castle military complex, and as you look up at one of the outer rings of defenses, you will see both Napoleonic cannons and WWII anti-aircraft guns on display.  From there, you can either climb up to the medieval castle, or down to the WWII bunkers.

The castle is large, and contains an interactive display about Henry II and the Angevin kings.  (You may not have heard of Henry II, but you have almost certainly heard of his sons, Richard the Lionheart and John I, both of "Robin Hood" fame.)  The main keep is massive, and many of the rooms have been decked out to give you some idea of what they were used for and how they looked.  There is no audio tour, so you will be able to proceed at your own pace and in whatever order suits you, but certainly make your way to the very top of the keep, where you will be rewarded with a bird's eye view of the entire area.

The underground bunkers and tunnels are less imposing to look at, but a couple of tours are offered through them to give you an idea of how they were used.  On your way down, you will pass the World War I defensive headquarters and the top of the famous double-helix staircase built during the Napoleonic era to get troops down to the beaches as quickly as possible in the case of a French invasion.  We took the shorter of two WWII tours, through the hospital tunnels.  The tour took about 20 minutes and was very good.  They simulated air raids knocking out the power, which I thought was a neat touch.  And it was a treat at the end to get to ascend back to the surface through the double-helix staircase I just mentioned.

We were staying in Kent, so Dover was just an hour away for us.  Dover is in the far southeast of England, so it's a pretty good drive from London, but certainly doable in a day trip even from there.  I do think Dover Castle is a good visit for the children because (1) it is a terrific castle as far as castles go, and (2) the history will excite any young boy of the age where he is infatuated with war (like our son, age 10).

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle is a well-maintained castle that has been in continuous use since its construction in the early 1100’s. While it saw some action during The Anarchy of the 1100’s, it primarily served as a residence for the queens of England during the Plantagenet and Tudor eras, before passing into private hands, where it remained until 1974. It is today known as one of England’s most beautiful castles.

Most medieval castles fell into disrepair in the early gunpowder era. For castles that were kept up, they would have to have been in continuous use after the medieval period. We saw on our previous visit to England the Tower of London, which has been used continuously since the 11th century, and today we visited Leeds Castle, which has also been used continuously since its construction in the early 1100’s. Leeds Castle, in fact, was a private residence until 1974, so its plumbing and electricity are modern and up-to-date. As it has been well-maintained by its previous owners, it is known as one of England’s prettiest castles, more impressive by the fact of its age and history.

Leeds Castle has historically been known as a queen’s castle, having served as home to several queens and dowager queens of England, including Joan of Navarre and Catherine de Valois. It is fitting, therefore, that its last owner was also a woman, Lady Baillie. When she purchased the castle in the 1920’s, she spared no expense to repair, restore, and decorate the castle, so it is in jolly good shape. When we visited today, the banquet hall was being set up for a wedding banquet, and it looked grand indeed!

There are various parts to the grounds of Leeds Castle. After purchasing your tickets (sorry, it is neither National Trust nor English Heritage, so you will have to pay for your tickets), there is a 10-minute walk from the ticket office to the castle through some beautiful gardens. You could also take a “train” to the castle, but I do not recommend missing the walk. If you must, walk to the castle and take the train back to the start at the end of your stay.

The castle itself is built on 2 islands surrounded by a moat. The oldest part of the castle is on the far island, though there are also some ruins that originally protected the entrance on the outside of the moat. The drawbridges were replaced with permanent bridges several centuries ago, and various other parts have also been added or modified over the centuries. In the castle, there is an audio tour available in the gatehouse for £4. We are fans of audio tours when traveling with children, because it allows different members of the family to proceed at their own pace. The children always like to go a bit faster than the adults.

The castle tour does not take you through the entire castle complex, as much of it is still in use today, but it takes you through many of the most important living areas, which remain decorated as they were by Lady Baillie. You begin, however, in a Norman cellar, which dates all the way back to the early 1100’s. A bit of trivia I learnt ascending the steps from the cellar is that the steps were made uneven on purpose, to trip up invaders. Coincidentally, right after I mentioned this fact to my wife, she caught her foot on a step; and then I, having just watched her, did exactly the same on the same step!

Outside the castle and further on is a courtyard with a nice restaurant looking over the castle. As you walk up to the courtyard, if you turn around, you will be rewarded with some of the most majestic views of the castle and its surrounding moat.

Beyond the restaurant courtyard is a recreational area which contains a really good hedge maze. For whatever reason, children are always better at navigating the maze, so our kids made it to the middle well before we did. There is also an area where falconers put on falconry shows, which are always entertaining. Beyond that is a pavilion with a short movie about the Battle of Agincourt, and then a terrific playground for children. It’s a really good playground, and will provide parents with a well-deserved rest while their kids run around the faux-castle playground.

A note for disabled persons

Moreso than other castles, Leeds Castle does have accommodations for people in wheelchairs. While it would be impossible for wheelchairs to navigate the entire castle — as much as can be accommodated is, and there is a special movie for mobility-impaired visitors to see the parts that they are missing. Up in the recreational area, there is a good part of the playground that is designed for handicapped children, which was a very nice thought. And admission is reduced for disabled persons and their caregivers.

Fountains Abbey

Klaus with K (license)

Of the three abbeys we visited — Hailes, Easby, and Fountains — Fountains Abbey was the biggest and best preserved. Fountains Abbey in its day must have been truly magnificent. The most obvious feature of the abbey is its 160-foot tall tower, which despite having been destroyed by Henry VIII, still towers over the valley. Approaching the abbey from the visitors’ center, the tower can be seen rising above the walls of the valley, and you don’t realize that you’re looking at just the very top of a tall tower until you walk the quarter mile to valley edge.

The tip of the iceberg:

The rest of the tower:

But big as the tower is, the abbey itself is massive. While some of the abbey has been reduced to foundations, as was most of Hailes, there are still substantial portions standing, including most of the church:

Can you imagine the size of the stained glass window that went in there?

But there was more — much more — to the abbey than the tower and church.

Cloister court:

Great cloister (there is a cross way down at the far end):

And in addition to the remains of the great abbey, for the price of admission (free to National Trust members), you get to walk the entire grounds of Studley Royal Park, a designated World Heritage Site. Personally, I’m not big into looking at plants, so gardens don’t really excite me, so I stayed with the kids while Melinda checked out the Studley Royal Water Garden.

Iain Gilmour (license)

Overall, Fountains Abbey was the biggest and best of all the abbeys we visited. While there is no reason to restrict yourself to visiting just one abbey, if you can only visit one, visit Fountains. We visited Hailes Abbey, in the Cotswolds, first, which is the poorest preserved of the abbeys we visited. However, we are glad we did, since its audio tour was probably the best (though Fountains was also very good). However, if we had visited Hailes Abbey after Fountains, we would have been sorely disappointed, so if you are visiting more than one abbey on your trip to Britain, visit Fountains Abbey last. We liked Fountains Abbey so much, we went back for a second visit.

Count this a definite recommendation for Fountains Abbey.

York

Founded by the Romans in AD 71, York has been an important city in northern England for almost 2000 years. Four Roman emperors [1] held court in York, and it was in York that Constantine the Great was proclaimed emperor in 306. In the post-Roman era, York was conquered by the Angles, then the Vikings, and finally the Normans, a thousand years ago. York’s main feature is its cathedral, York Minster, but there is also a lot of other things to see and do in York. We spent half a day in York, and covered:

1. The National Railway Museum
2. The Treasurer’s House
3. York Minster
4. A walking ghost tour of the city

Walking the streets of York definitely feels like an old, old city, and while most people think of English history only so far back as the Middle Ages, there are still some towers and columns that date back to the Roman period, and a more contemporary statue of the Roman emperor Constantine reminds you that York (Eboracum) was once a very important city in northern Brittania.
(Left) This tower formed the northwest corner of the Roman legionary fortress of Eboracum. The larger stonework at the top was added during the medieval period.
(Right) A Roman column in modern York serves as a reminder that this was once a Roman city. (Bottom) Statue commemorating Emperor Constantine

The National Railway Museum
England was an early adopter of rail technology, ushering in the Industrial Revolution in the early nineteenth centure, and York became a rail hub, so it is fitting that the National Railway Museum be situated in York.
The museum consists of a large collection of trains, most of which you cannot climb on or get in. After a few pictures of your kids with a few giant locomotives, you can walk through the rest fairly quickly. There are not that many interactive exhibits, and the ones there are (e.g., one on signaling a train on a circular track) are lame. One big area is just shelf after shelf of cataloged train-related items — oh look! a napkin from the 1932 London-to-Edinburgh dining car! Fascinating.
“Oh look! Another train!”

I have visited the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, and thought the Sacramento museum was better. If you’re ever in that part of California, it is worth seeing. However, in York, where there is so much else to do, you can safely skip the National Railway Museum. If you’re thinking that since it’s free, you may as well visit it anyway, parking is £9, which would be a deal for a whole day, but you can cover the whole museum in an hour, so £9/hr is a bit steep.
There is so much else to do in York, that I’d recommend sites other than the National Railway Museum.
The Treasurer’s House
The Treasurer’s House behind York Minster once housed the treasurers of York Minster. It ceased usage in that role five hundred years ago and fell into disrepair until Frank Green purchased it at the end of the nineteenth century and renovated it. Its claim to fame is that the royal family stayed in it once. It’s probably the smallest and least posh of all places the royal family ever stayed. It’s not that nice.

There are no audio tours available, but there are docents in every room. Unfortunately, they are volunteers who apparently have received no training in the history of the house. On a couple of occasions, we asked the room guide a question about the room we were in, only to have the room guide quickly scan one of the handouts, and then reply, “I don’t know.” Finally, we did find a knowledgeable docent — an orthodox priest — in Princess Victoria’s room, who was able to provide us some details and stories about the house.
When you visit York, you are going to visit York Minster, of course, and the Treasurer’s House is right behind it, so you may as well stop in. It is National Trust, so free to members. However, the house isn’t that good, so if you are pressed for time, you can skip it and not feel like you’ve missed out on anything.
York Minster
York Minster is a cathedral of the same caliber as Salisbury, which we visited earlier. York Minster is much older than Salisbury, but because of its tumultuous history (burnings, lootings, etc.), it has had to undergo major restorations over the last few centuries, so it actually appears much newer than Salisbury Cathedral. However, it is beautiful. Its interior is quite a bit larger than Salisbury’s, and the stained glass windows are beautiful. Unlike Salisbury, the interior of the cathedral is not littered by tombs; apparently, this is a result of the purges and systematic destruction wreaked by the Tudors and the English Reformation. Curiously, most of the chapels in the cathedral are military-related. There are many nooks and crannies to explore in York Minster, including the chapter house, all of which I recommend.

We attended the evening service at York Minster, since we had had such a good experience at Salisbury’s evensong the prior week. There was a visiting choir singing the service, and although they were good, we preferred the voices of the resident choristers at Salisbury. Still, it was an excellent service, and I recommend trying to time your visits to churches and cathedrals in England in order to make the evensong services. I believe most of them do do them every night.
It costs £20,000/day to keep York Minster up and running, so, unlike Salisbury Cathedral, York Minster charges and admission fee to tourists to keep the building up and restore those parts that need restoration: £10 per adult gets you basic admission, children under 16 free; to gain access to the tower, it’s another £5 per person, regardless of age. As worshippers, you can get in free, but I recommend donating at least the price admission if you attend worship, since you are a tourist, too, and it is the right thing to do.
If you do one thing in York, visit York Minster.
A walking ghost tour of the city

Apparently, York is known for its ghosts; everyone, it seems, has a ghost story. We walked a tour of York with a pleasant fellow who told us ghost stories of York. It wasn’t free, and it probably wasn’t worth the money, but it did get us to a few places like Clifford’s Tower and the Shambles. The former is the keep of what was once York Castle; the latter is an old street that still has shops operating on it.
Clifford’s Tower:

Summary
We probably should have budgeted more time for York, as there is much we missed. We had planned on returning the next day, but instead went to Fountains Abbey, which was well worth it. I recommend Yorkshire, and while in Yorkshire, plan on spending at least a day in York. There is some good shopping in York, too, and you might want to split between the shoppers and sightseers in your family, since there is much to keep the non-shoppers engaged in the meantime.

---

1. Hadrian, Septimius Severus, Constantius I, and Constantine the Great  ↩
   

Middleham Castle

We visited Middleham Castle on July 6, the 531st anniversary of the coronation of King Richard III. Richard spent much of his boyhood growing up in Middleham Castle, and he rose to become King of England, the last king from the House of York. Richard was defeated and killed by Henry Tudor (Henry VII) at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. Richard III was villainized in the years following his death by his Tudor successors, who sought to legitimize their claim to the throne, and completely filleted (I am told) by Shakespeare in his play Richard III.

York, Yorkshire, and Middleham are Richard III country. They still consider him a great king, and I spoke to couple of local ladies who thought his body, which was discovered in 2012, should be returned to York to “lie finally at rest” among his people.

A statue of Richard III inside Middleham Castle. Not sure why he is missing his arms, but someone has placed a bouquet of white roses — the symbol of the House of York — at his feet:

You may recall the fanfare around the discovery of Richard III’s remains in Leicester in 2012. If you kept up with that story, you probably heard of a Richard III Society. These are the type of people I spoke to at Middleham on Sunday.

Anyway, to commemorate Richard’s coronation, the castle had an interactive play for children to learn about Richard III. My daughter, Melissa, was chosen to play Richard III, while Paul played Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. Both of my children, were therefore killed in battle, though one of them did — briefly but heroically — wear the English crown.

The Earl of Warwick, makes a deal with Richard’s brother, George:

The Battle of Barnet rages, Warwick leading the Lancastrians against the Yorkists:

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, lies slain at the end of the Battle of Barnet, a decisive victory for the House of York:

Richard III is crowned King of England:

Poor Richard III lies dead after the Battle of Bosworth Field:

I must admit, I knew very little about Richard III until this visit and the play, but it turns out he was quite an interesting man, and not a bad king, though I think one of the enduring mysteries of this era is what Richard did with the Princes in the Tower.

Anyway, Middleham Castle is worth a visit if you are in Yorkshire. It is a prototypical rectangular castle with its keep in the middle. This is a major historical spot of English history; I’d place it on par with Kenilworth Castle. The castle complex is not as large as Kenilworth, but it is as well preserved, and a climb up to the top of the keep does present decent views.

View from the keep:

As with other castles, the kids will have a ball exploring.

But the main reason to visit Middleham is to get a sense of the history here. If you’re coming to York and Yorkshire, you must learn some about the War of the Roses (which I didn’t) and come to Middleham. If you are staying in York, you can make a day trip out to Middleham, and either continue on to Richmond Castle and Easby Abbey, or hit Fountains Abbey on the way or way back. If you stay in North Yorkshire, as we did, Middleham is a very short drive and a no-brainer. If you can time it right, visiting on July 6 is a propitious day to visit Middleham.