Warwick Castle

I attended an event at Warwick Castle near Stratford-upon-Avon tonight (it's in Warwickshire, naturally) and it was a blast, a hoot, a lot of fun!

Much like attending the Renaissance festival, the staff members were dressed in period costume and stayed in character all night. We, the guests, were to be given a tour of the castle (or a bit of it, anyway) and then treated to a meal, for the next day we would be going into battle for the Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville (the Kingmaker), to put Henry IV on the throne in place of Edward IV (who had been supported by the very same Earl when he rose to power.)

The setting may sound grim, but the experience was anything but. We had a jester doing tricks with a spinning toy on the grounds before we went in. We had a laundry mistress lead us through the castle showing us (wax figure) inhabitants at typical chores, we had a passed-over knight, and the young man for whom he was passed over poking fun at one another and the audience all night, we had serving wenches, and we had a magician who made us laugh and laugh. (I still have the invisible cards he gave to Jenny during his card trick.) [Yes, I do! She gave them to me.]

Oh, and we had food. Good food. Pea soup (really -- it was good -- and not as much like fog as one might expect), bread, a tart with some sort of seafood in it, a nicely seasoned chicken breast, spring potatoes, salad, and a great "pudding" of some sort with a berry and cream crumble to it. Yum.

When I return home, I will post a photo or two. It will help me remember this -- perhaps the most fun I've ever had at a work-related event.