An adventure to Warwick Castle with the Grandparents!

Today I have a post written by my Mum, who kindly took the boys to Warwick Castle for the day and following on from our visit to Ludlow Castle, Warwick has much more to offer in the way of entertainment, this gave me some much needed peace to work!  So over to you Mum…

In preparation for the visit to Warwick Castle, we did some research on the Internet. We discovered a few reviews and comments on Trip advisor which were helpful and arranged the day with my daughter, luckily, she had two offers from cereal packets which gave us a 2 for 1 deal and also a ‘Adult goes free’ admission…this meant to get both offers (normally you can only use one offer per group) we would have to split and pay separately (Grandma + 1 boy and Granddad + 1 boy!).

An hour and a half journey was filled with I-Spy and I Went to Market, and soon we were turning into the castle grounds towards the car park. Unfortunately, due to the amount of cars in the park we were placed at the one furthest away (20 mins walk). Due to the timing (arrived at the park at 11.45am); we decided to have our picnic by the car before setting off to the castle mainly to avoid carrying all the weight of the picnic around the castle etc.

The 20 min walk to the castle passed quickly but we then had to queue to pay at the ticket office for another 20 mins due to the amount of people. Admission prices for a family of 4 are pricey (£69 on the gate for castle entry only or £107.40 for addition access to Castle Dungeons and The Dragon Tower) but made more affordable by the cereal box offer.

Once inside the grounds, the imposing castle building is a magnificent example of English architecture. The boys rushed to climb the 500+ steps to the Guys Tower, but after a bit of persuasion they agreed that after 50 that perhaps we should turn back (one way only up the Guys Tower!)

After a loo stop (15 min queue), we wandered over to River Island to watch the Jousting Tournament. This was extremely well orchestrated and was thoroughly enjoyed by the boys. They especially liked the sword fights and fire tricks performed by the knights and the sword fights were re-enacted by them at the soonest possible moment after a visit to one of the tents selling the swords etc.!!

Although there were many boys with the same foam clubs and balls and chains, we saw many of the balls had come away from the chains and these lasted the boys about 30 mins of play fighting!

Unfortunately, we missed the Birds of Prey display, but I understand that this is an event well worth watching. Due to the boys ages (& and nearly 5), we did not visit the dungeons or the dragon tower as it was advised to be of age 10 and above but these would have been additional costs and again, lots of queuing. They did however, enjoy the adventure playground.

All in all the boys enjoyed the day, but I think to get the most out of the visit, they needed to be slightly older in order for them to make the most of the additional attractions and as grandparents we will definitely go again, but out of season, so we can visit the state rooms etc.

All photo’s were taken by Bob Stewart, budding photography extraodinaire!