Sherborne Castle

Jess and Belle headed back home this morning so we decided to check out Sherborne Castle.

Sherborne has had a castle since the 12th Century. Roger Bishop of Salisbury built a castle to the east of the Town to administer the western part of his large diocese. In early Tudor times the Bishops built a small Hunting Lodge in the deer park attached to the Old Castle from which to observe the chase.

Sir Walter Raleigh acquired the Old Castle in 1592. At first he tried to modernise it, but then he built a new house in 1594 in the deer park. It was on the site of the Hunting Lodge which he incorporated into the foundations. His house was rectangular and four storeys high, with large square-headed windows filled with diamond pane glass. In 1600 he added hexagonal turrets to the four corners of his house, topped with heraldic beasts. The house was rendered from the outset, in the latest fashion.

In 1617 the diplomat Sir John Digby acquired Sherborne Castle and he added four wings to Raleigh's building, giving the house its present H-shape. He copied the style adopted by Raleigh, of square-headed windows, and balustraded roofs with heraldic beasts, and added hexagonal turrets at the end of each wing, so the house looks of one piece.

In the Civil War the Digbys fought for the Royalist cause and the Old Castle was garrisoned and suffered two sieges. After the second siege in 1645 Col Fairfax and his Parliamentarian army systematically demolished the Old Castle. Thus the name 'Sherborne Castle' came to be applied to the new house in the park.

In the eighteenth century later generations of the Digby family modernised the Tudor house, adding Georgian sash windows, panelled doors and white marble fireplaces and filling the house with fine furniture.

In 1787 an extension was added to the west side of the house which provided more bedrooms and improved staff accommodation and kitchens.

The Victorian period saw only one major re-modelling, in the Solarium (Raleigh's Parlour), reflecting the respect the Wingfield Digby owners held for the antiquity and historical associations of the house. In the First World War the Castle was used as a Red Cross Hospital and it was requisitioned by the Army in the Second World War.

 

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Days of relaxation

Roger, Ann and I decided that our legs had traveled way too many miles the past few days so we took Thursday off and simply lounged at the campsite for a couple days. Jayme and Jess went back to Monkey World on Thursday but stayed with us on Friday.

We spent Friday playing cards and like all the previous nights, completed the evening with a campfire. Boy have I missed having those, it brought back so many great memories of campfires in my youth!

Dorset Steam Fair

If there was one thing we did not expect when we changed our holiday plans from Scotland to Dorset  was that there were so many events on just a few miles from where we were camping and the Dorset Steam Fair was one of them.

We saw the signs while driving around and decided to give it a go. Little did we know that it was a huge (advertised as the largest in the country) as it was. We spent the entire day walking looking at vintage steam machines, the craft tents, the large trade stalls along with the fairground.

There were large displays of working machines that really was impressive. I do think though that you need to spend a couple days there to really appreciate it all and to save your legs especially Aunty Ann's. She must have really suffered after all that walking but you'd never know it because just at the end of the day when we were all dragging our feet, she finally saw a chance to get a picture taken with a true British Bobby and she ran after him!!

Jess took a couple days off work to join us so she arrived this evening along with Belle. A great evening sitting by the campfire rounded out a very good day!

Monkey World

Jayme had always wanted to go to Monkey World so that was the plan for the day. It was only 1/2 hour drive from the site so we headed off at 11am.

According to their brochure Monkey World is set in a 65 acre park in the heart of the Dorset countryside and is home to over 250 rescued endangered primates of 20 different species. Many have been neglected, kept in unnatural conditions or experienced unbelievable cruelty. Some are now part of international breeding programmes for endangered species.Here they can enjoy the company of their own kind in a safe, natural environment.

 

Over 80 Capuchin Monkeys (above) had been rescued from horrible conditions in South America...they are the cutest monkeys and so active.

My favourites had to be the Orangutans...they have so much personality. This big guy had been sleeping for sometime when he suddenly stood up moved to the fence where many people we standing watching him. Before anyone knew what was happening he climbed the fence and immediately lifted his legs up to his ears while holding onto the fence and showed his private parts to all. We all laughed as he stayed there for several minutes while everyone took pictures. It was almost like he was laughing at all of us watching him!

 

 

It was a great day and next time we are back that way I think another visit is in order!

 

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Meadow View Caravan Site - Horton Dorset

We arrived at Meadow View Caravan Park today and setup camp. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get here as the Bank Holiday traffic was a bit heavy...not nearly as heavy as we expected as most traffic was going the other way.

It feels great to finally be on holiday and the weather promises to be great for the week!

 

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Herstmonceux Castle

As we decided not to go to Scotland for holidays we thought it best to start our trip out on Monday after the Bank Holiday weekend. It was a great excuse to take in Herstmonceux's Medieval Festival. I had wanted to go to the festival in the past it just was never meant to be.

Roger, Jayme, Ann and I headed off and spent the entire day being entertained by the Knights in Armour jousting and fighting. It was a terrific day and I certainly think we will go again another year.

Hever Castle

We are finally on annual leave. The week seemed to just drag, not helped by the fact that I knew Ann was at home during the day while we worked. Must admit though it's rather nice having someone do the ironing and all the laundry!

We have decided that, since the weather forecast is for it to rain all next week in Scotland, we would spend the week in the South where the sun is suppose to shine! Since it is a long weekend we have decided to hold off heading west until Monday so today we took Ann to Hever Castle. It rained all day but we still really enjoyed it. Unfortunately the gardens don't look as beautiful in the rain but the crowds were much less!

 

 

You will probably notice that Hever Castle is tilting like the Leaning Tower of Pisa....well that's just Ann's photography....very similar to mine! lol

Tomorrow we are off to Herstmonceaux Castle for a medieval festival...should be lots of fun!

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The Eagle has landed!

Finally a few more days till we head to the great north of Scotland! Roger and I have planned to holiday in Scotland for the past 3 years but for some reason we have had to change our plans at the last minute....not this time! We are packed and ready to go!

I invited Aunty Ann to come from Canada for the holiday, she hasn't been to the UK since 2000 so it was long over due! As Brent works for Air Canada Ann was able to fly at a much cheaper rate by flying standby....little did she know until she got to the airport that flying standby is not for the faint hearted. After not being able to get on a couple flights (with long layovers) at the very last minute she was able to get a direct flight to London and arrived on Sunday at 11.30am.

Because she didn't have time to contact us before her flight departed she worried about how to get in touch with us when she landed at Heathrow....little did she know Brent had already emailed us so we were there to meet her....much to her relief.

Once we got her home we took her to Tesco for her first outing and in true Ann style she was ripping around the aisles! Good luck UK...Auntie is here!!

 

 

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Bodiam Boating Station

What started out as a possibly disaterous weekend turned into a great one!

The girls had agreed to join us camping on the weekend and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. I had even booked Friday off to make it a long weekend. Since the campsite was only a few miles from Roger's work he took the motorhome to work Thursday morning so he could get everything set up by the time I arrived after work.

I called Roger from the road and rather wished I hadn't as he was thoroughly ticked off. He had arrived at the site to discover that a mistake had been made and someone else was in our double spot. Roger was furious that we were now parked facing the toilets. Trying to make sense of what he was saying I said to wait until I arrived to assess the situation before we decided what to do. The rest of the drive all I could think of was how I didn't want a confrontation, I wanted a nice quiet break.

I arrived about one hour later and Roger was so worked up that before I could get out of the car he said he wanted to go home. For those that don't know Roger, this was completely out of character for him as he is usually such a calm person. After speaking to the landlady who apologised profusely for the confusion, we agreed to move to a different pitch the next morning when the occupants vacated. This did not really appease Roger as he was upset that if we sat outside the motorhome we were looking at the toilets. After suggesting we turn the motorhome around so the door opened the other side he calmed down and the crisis was averted!

The next morning Roger took my car to work and when the new spot was vacant I moved the motorhome and got everything set up for the weekend.

The girls joined us that evening and stayed in a tent near the motorhome. We had a great time sitting around the new firepit they had bought us as an anniversary gift.

 

Saturday was very windy and the row boating we had planned to do in the afternnon was postponed until Sunday. We spent the entire day relaxing and talking.

Sunday we rented a row boat and spent a couple hours laughing as we tried to manouever the river before we headed home.

 

 

 

We all decided that we needed to plan more weekends away just like this one as we have a great time when we get together and life is too short!

 

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