The Pictures I Forgot

Ok, so I forgot some pictures. These should come after the "Framlingham Castle" post but that's not how the posts will be displayed. This is the fireplace inside what used to be the poor house at Framlingham. I guess if you don't want all the trouble of chopping the tree up into little bits so you can burn it, you just build a fireplace big enough to put the whole tree into!

Rhett and the kids standing on the opposite side of the curtain wall, with Framlingham College in the back ground.

My sweeties on the wall walk tour at Framlingham.

This is a view of Dover Castle from the beach we were on. We couldn't figure out if that monstrous building in the foreground is a hotel or apartment complex (we were leaning towards apartments, and that wasn't the only leaning we came across).

This was a riddle in our room at the Bed and Breakfast we stayed in. Is the wall crooked? Is the shelf crooked? Or is the radiator crooked? I would venture a guess that no one thought anything was crooked until the radiator went in! Does anyone know when the leveling tool was invented?

Framlingham Castle

We visited this castle on April 14. It was built in the late 1100's by the Bigod family. Most generations of Bigod's had on again/off again relationships with the British Monarchy. This castle was taken away as punishment then given back to the family on a number of different occasions, by more than one king.

The kids and me crossing the bridge over the moat to the entrance of the keep yard. This is the view from where we are standing on the bridge looking out over what is now a very dry moat. This is the view as you come in the keep yard. All that remains of the castle are the towers and the walls. The original buildings were destroyed by one of the monarchs who had finally had it with the Bigod family. These buildings here now were once used as a poor house during the 19th century. The view from the car park, where the British have their convenient, small, fuel efficient cars...then there's our van :) . The shrubbery on the left of the picture lines the walk up to the main entrance. The faithful knight in full armor, standing guard at the window. The brick on the castle was an added during Tudor times as a means of upkeep. "Ahhh, do you remember those days when we were young and would play tag on the lawn of the castle?" Fun, indeed! :) A beautiful grove of trees on the castle grounds. Framlingham village. These chimneys are way cool. They were put here during the reign of Queen Mary. I think there were seven, spread out around the towers and the wall. Only three of them were actually attached to fireplaces, the others were purely ornamental. Each chimney is different (you'll have to look closely). This was my favorite! We drove past this windmill on the way to Framlingham.

We had a good week and saw many beautiful things. This is just the beginning. We plan to take as many local trips as possible, just little weekend trips here and there. During the coming months there will be some fun events that we want to attend, like a Robin Hood Festival in Sherwood Forrest, a joust tournament at another castle, there are birds of prey demonstrations at some of the castles, which I am really interested in seeing. Lots of fun stuff and we don't even have to leave our little island (although, we do plan to do that soon too). We'd love to be tour guides to anyone who wants to come and visit, too.

Once Upon a Time

Dover Castle! Here we are at the beach just below the

castle; Dover has a very busy ferry port.

The coast of France is only about 55 miles

away.

If you enlarge this picture and look just beyond the harbor wall you can see the coast of France. Not that I'm promoting paying any attention to France...but some of you might care to look.

Our little sunny girl.Up the hill to the castle keep. The castle was built in the late 12th century and has been a very important place concerning England's defense. The British sure do have a curious way of keeping secrets. "Commander, I put the sign up over the entrance to the secrect tunnels. Are you sure the Germans don't know how to speak English?" Up on the hill overlooking the ferry harbor. Pretty much the same as last picture, except I'm in this one. It was a beautiful day, clear and sunny; later in the evening it got rainy. Into the keep (the keep is the part of the castle where the king holds residence). The throne room (in case you hadn't figured that out for yourself). The stairwell to the roof top. This picture shows something amazing...the oldest building in U.K. The building right in the center of the picture, with the square tower, is an old Anglo-Saxon church. Just to the right of the church, it almost looks as though it is part of the same building, is a round building with no roof. This is the Roman Pharos, a light house. I forget exactly how old it is, but I believe the Romans were here in the second century A.D. We took this picture and the next one from the top of the castle keep.

I wish I could remember more of the history of the castle. It has been used as a strategic defense head quarters many times during England's past. The most recent was during World War II. The secret war time tunnels were a command post. They also built a hospital underground for the wounded soldiers. You are not allowed to take pictures in the tunnels, that is why we have none. The second day of our trip we had a camera malfunction and so we missed many breathtaking, scenic opportunities to capture :(. If you take a few minutes to look up Dover Castle on the web you'll be amazed with it's history. We did take a hike along the famous white cliffs of Dover but that was on the second day so we have no pictures of that.

Those Anglo-Saxons...

In the fall after we arrived in England we started to explore our surroundings. Fortunately, an Anglo-Saxon village was discovered many years ago here in East Anglia. It is the most complete village ever found in Britian. Frames of buildings made of wood were found, which the scientists were able to speculate what the homes looked like, what their barns, meeting hall, and other structures were like. This is the barn where the sheep are during the warmer parts of the year. Also, during the warmer months there are many other animals here which the Saxons would have had; there are also people who come and dress up and "live" in the village like the Saxons would have. It was a very primitve life. This is a home. This is Rhett modeling a Saxon warrior's helmet (looks quite fierce with the umbrellas). More artifacts found at the site. The helmet seems to have swallowed Brittany's neck! Eliza impersonating an Anglo-Saxon Richard Nixon. LOL. Tarah just trying to see through the darn thing.