Day Nine - Warwick Castle & B&B

Shirley and I get up at 7:00 a.m. and have coffee. After my shower I pack the rest of my things and wake up Beth. It does not take us long to be ready to start our cruise up to the marina.

We arrive at the marina around 8:30 a.m. There are two other boats that have came in also but the shop is closed still. Since there is no mooring we tie up to the front of the other boats and to the day hire boat. The turn in time is "by 9:30 a.m." so we just wait.

After the marina crew arrives I head down to get the car, Beth, Jamee and Shirley dump the trash. We get our things loaded into the car and basically take off. There is no walk though on the boats to check them back in.

We arrive just before lunch time and purchase a family pass to enter, the cost is 42 pounds for the four of us. First order of business is finding lunch. We head to the restaurant in the castle, The Undercroft. The meal of beef, Yorkshire pudding and roast potatoes are pretty good. Afterwards we are off to explore.

The castle is pretty neat. Very much like a museum in parts with objects, paintings, furnishings and also very realistic figures dressed in period costumes. There are several parts to explore. The first area we visit is the "Royal Weekend Party" in the main part of the castle; next the girls and I walk the stairs to the castle mound and towers while Shirley sits and chats with a gentleman. By the time we finish our legs are tired but the view was pretty awesome. Beth is entranced by the huge trebuchet that will be on exhibit after the 9th. It is a replica of one used long ago. Beth designed a trebuchet for her physics class this year that threw water balloons.

We find Shirley and then visit the "Kingmaker" display in a lower section of the castle. Afterwards we head on out and watch the archer for a little while before leaving. We've spent about two hours exploring today at Warwick Castle.

The directions we have to the residence are very good. We find the home with no problems but it's not as easy finding a place to have an early dinner at 4:30 p.m. We drive around and take a few bad turns and decide to check in with Diane Mitchell, the owner of the home.

We are shown to our rooms. More stairs so Shirley and Jamee take the lower rooms and Beth and I the up-upstairs. We have a room with two twins a private shower / toilet. The room has a TV and vanity. Shirley and Jamee have a nice big room with a double and a twin bed. The rooms are clean but the home itself seems a bit cluttered in areas and an odd smell in the main room but not in our bedrooms.

After taking our things upstairs we head back out to find dinner. We go to Newbury and find a fish and chips place that is pretty good. We are all tired and after filling the car tank with diesel head back to the home and our rooms.