A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER!
Stay at Warwick Castle and soak up its medieval mysteries, says GUY ADAMS
Throughout the history of our Sceptred Isle, some things have never changed. Little girls like to dress up as princesses. their brothers want to play with swords. And everyone — without exception — laughs like a drain when grown men get a whack in the cobblers.
At Warwick Castle, we experience all three at supper, shortly after arriving. I say supper, but this gargantuan buffet is quite rightly called a medieval banquet. Instead of plates, we have platters. For glasses, think flagons.
And no sooner have we scoffed a bellyful of meat and potatoes than the entertainment begins with the door kicked in by two swarthy gentlemen in suits of armour. En garde!
Assembled children, including our eldest (William, six, and Megan, four) are called to attention, kitted out in fancy dress, and taught to do battle with rubber weapons. After releasing them to have pudding, our hosts stage a sword fight. It’s loud, brutal, and at times very funny.
this theatrical vignette is all part of the experience at the Knight’s Village, a new addition that allows visitors to extend day-trips to one of England’s best-known landmarks by staying overnight in medieval-style timber huts on stilts next to the river Avon.
EACh is cutely kitted out, with weapons on the walls, flags dangling from beams, and armour-themed light fittings, door handles and crockery. the vibe is somewhere between Premier Inn and 15th-century Disneyland.
A thousand years old — established by William the Conqueror — the castle was traditionally the fortified seat of the Earls of Warwick, one of the nation’s wealthiest and most powerful dynasties. today, you can walk the battlements, gawp at wellmaintained State rooms, and learn about the castle’s fascinating past.
there are other, less educational, attractions: a horrible histories maze, the Princess tower (where small girls are told a story involving frogs and princes), an archery range, ice cream stalls, and a twice-daily falconry show.
In the summer, they also have twice- daily firings of a huge trebuchet, or catapult, along with jousting and raucous stage-shows.
the Dungeon, where actors wearing latex masks scare the wits out of us, costs extra, but is terrific. then it’s back to our hut for — pardon the pun — another knight to remember.