1000/562: 16 Sept 2011: Thomas Oken tea rooms and Warwick Castle

Well, very happy to confirm that breakfast was as good as expected. While Marion is in her exam/training day I've got the day to wander around Warwick - a place I've never visited before.

Hard though it may be to believe there is a limit to the number of shots I can reasonably post, so I'm going to concentrate on the castle - surprise - but first of a shot from the Oken tea room where I took a cuppa and had an early lunch. This guy has obviously been here longer than me.. Do like his rather fancy knitted codpiece!

1000/562: 16 Sept 2011: Thomas Oken tea rooms, Warwick, a photo by nmonckton on Flickr.

Just up the way from the tea-rooms were some gardens set aside for quiet contemplation, with a magnificent sweet chestnut tree. Couldn’t do the tree justice so chose a different shot.

 

And then on to the castle, which is perhaps best described as eye-wateringly expensive. I might not have resented this so much except that the headline figure does not include VAT which I feel is a complete con. It was fairly magnificent though. The state rooms were as good as any I’ve seen, and I had a good chat about medieval warfare with the archer.

Rather unexpectedly there was a nice set of early electricity supply equipment in the basement.

Inevitable there were battlements to walk along – up and down – and these next two shots give a decent feel for the place. the buildings on the right – which look Tudor to me – housed the staterooms, which included a clock previously owned by Marie Antoinette!

And this final shot is from the tower – centre left – which had stonking views of the whole of Warwick. The tents housed the entrance to the dungeon experience, which I declined as they added 35% to the overall cost – not forgetting the VAT.