We started off at Lacock Abbey, with the medieval cloisters at ground level and working upwards to a Georgian mansion. The extensive library, we've learned, would be re-bound to match any redecorating colo(u)r schemes, at huge cost. Harry Potter fans will be thrilled to know that Snape's potions and Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom were filmed in the spare medieval cloister rooms. The grounds surrounding the Tudor building were wild, dotted with wet, splintering wood fences. Native grasses stretched into the distance, but really the most familiar and common ones were stinging nettles.
Warwick Castle, on the other hand, reminded one forcibly of Legoland, even down to the same striping on the enterprising little food stalls. The trebuchet launched an impressive fireball, although it was more slinger than catapult. The castle itself had little exhibits burrowing off the keep, interesting and well-done exhibits with wax statues and voice-overs, and every one a gift shop. The dungeon cost 7.80 pounds ($11), but the oubliette was free, so medieval torture was on full and horrifying display. Other exhibits included 'Kingmaker', about preparing for battle under the Earl of Warwick, complete with horsey smells; 'Secrets and Scandals', about Lady Daisy of Warwick who had five children, three of them with her husband, and slept with the Prince of Wales, various dukes, and a captain in the Navy, admittedly not at the same time. There was even a PG sex scene in the exhibit, closed four-poster drapes and cooing sounds. Wandering the grounds were peacocks and peahens, and there was a birds of prey conservatory. Now we are stationed in Banbury, in a four-hundred-year-old hotel. Stay tuned for Stratford.
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