Kenilworth Castle

Exploring Kenilworth Castle with the Kids

Since visiting Scotland and some of its magnificent castles back in February, we have got a real thirst for history.

Visiting castles with children is lots of fun, not only do you get to pretend you are knights of the realm, or a real life princess, you can climb the ramparts, investigate the history of the castle, or simply take in the atmosphere. Most of the castles we have visited also have some of THE best hills for rolling down too!!

Over the weekend we were on a Stay, Play, Explore break in Leicestershire and were invited by English Heritage and Mumsnet.com to visit Kenilworth Castle which is located in the town of the Kenilworth, a short drive away in Warwickshire.

Kenilworth Castle was constructed from Norman through to Tudor times and offers a real “WOW” factor as it comes into view.

You enter the castle from a long track which is where they used to have jousting tournaments – cue some galloping children upon their imaginary horses racing up and down the track. Once inside the grounds there are many different parts of the castle to explore and the kids radiated towards the old Tudor stable block where they pretended to be put in jail.

Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle has been linked with some of the most important names in English history and was a favoured residence of the Lancastrian kings. Today, with its Elizabethan gardens, its impressive Norman ‘keep’ and John of Gaunt’s Great Hall, it is the largest castle ruin in England, perfect for exploring.

Kenilworth Castle

The castle is sat on top of a large hill, perfect for rolling down and the kids made the most of the dry and sunny weather by rolling from the top to the bottom. The castle grounds are accessible for buggy’s and wheelchairs but if you want to explore the ruins, there are a lot of stairs to navigate – some modern wooden stairs with viewing platforms and some fun original stone spiral staircases so be prepared for some climbing.

Kenilworth Castle

There were lots of information plaques dotted around, explaining which part of the castle you were in, or looking at and giving you information about events that happened in the castle. Isaac especially enjoyed finding out all about what happened in the castle whereas Eliza and Sebby were content finding all the nooks and cranny’s and seeing where they could make their voices echo.

Kenilworth Castle

One of the castle’s most famous periods was the 16th century and Elizabeth I visited several times. In 1575 her and her entourage were lavishly entertained for three weeks with pageants, music, dancing, fireworks, hunting and feasting and there is a fabulous display of paintings and information about the event in Leicester’s Gatehouse.

Kenilworth Castle

Kenilworth Castle is also home to the Elizabethan Gardens, a recreation of the garden built by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, for Elizabeth I’s visit in 1575. It is a stunning garden and I can only imagine what it would look like in the summer when all the flowers are in bloom.

Elizabethan Gardens

On our visit to Scotland we were intrigued by tales of the Civil War and here we discovered that Kenilworth was taken by the Parliamentarian army in the opening month of it. Although the castle didn’t see much action, the army wanted to make the castle untenable and so the north wall of the keep was destroyed and the outer curtain wall beyond breached. In the years after the Civil war the mere, that once surrounded the castle, was drained, trees were felled, and interiors stripped out and sold, leading to further destruction of the castle.

Kenilworth Castle

Visiting castles with kids opens up their imaginations and during Easter, English Heritage will be running a series of Easter Adventure Quests across the country, where families can meet a costumed character, solve clues and win chocolate rewards.

I really would recommend visiting an English Heritage property as a fun family day out and you can read about our visit to Bolsover Castle here.

I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity. I have received a voucher in return for writing this post.

Country Kids

Bournemouth Wheel

A Panoramic View over Bournemouth

2016 was the year I promised myself we would go on the Bournemouth balloon, however, it wasn’t meant to be as it disappeared back in June, never to return.

Thankfully, over the Christmas period, we got to take in panoramic views of Bournemouth from a big wheel standing more than 100 feet tall at Pier Approach.

Isaac and I first rode the wheel after his 100 years of Cubs parade which saw us marching through Bournemouth Gardens covered in glowsticks, before making the cub symbol out of glowsticks in the sand.

100 Years of Cubs

Once we had finished we headed back to the Pier to ride the wheel, which was really quiet. I had expected fantastic views over Bournemouth, however, our town is not as well-lit as I thought and we were left a little disappointed that we couldn’t see much and resolved to come back and ride it in the daytime.

Bournemouth Wheel

Yesterday was a beautiful clear day and after being cooped up a home over the festive period I managed to get the kids out of the house for some fresh air, with a walk along the beach, which was surprisingly warm for the time of year.

Bournemouth Beach

The wheel was much busier than our last visit, however we only waited around 10 minutes to board it as they had efficiently set up two queues which were moving quickly. Sebby was nervous at first and Isaac held his hand until he was more confident.

Bournemouth Wheel

You get three full rotations of the wheel and this time we had longer onboard as all the gondolas were full, therefore we got to enjoy the views over Bournemouth Gardens and Pier as they were unloaded and re-loaded.

Bournemouth Big Wheel

My only frustration is that the Gondolas are surrounded by perspex for safety and being by the sea they are covered in salt so taking photo’s is tricky, but I managed to get a couple through the gaps.

Sebby didn’t want to get off, but I managed to persuade him with a promise of going to see the birds in the Aviary in the Gardens.

Bournemouth Gardens

Isaac and Eliza wanted to do the ice rink, but as I was on my own with them I decided we will wait for a time when I have another pair of hands, so we headed back to the pier where there was a spiral Christmas tree-lined walkway leading to a letter box to the North Pole to explore.

Bournemouth

It was a lovely day out with the kids and although the big wheel doesn’t raise you to the dizzy heights of the balloon, at least I can say that I have seen Bournemouth from above now.

The Bournemouth Wheel costs £5 per adult, £4 per child and £16 for a family and is open from 10am-10pm until 7th January 2017. Don’t forget to take ID with you as BH residents get 50p off too.

Country Kids