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Contrary to expectations, Bolton Castle is not in Bolton, the Lancashire town. It's actually on the other side of the country, with the nearest town being Ripon, and the nearest large town being Darlington. Its main claim to fame is that Mary Queen of Scots stayed there for 6 months, though her retinue were obliged to live nearby, as the castle could not house her whole retinue. It's a good reminder; when you read accounts of her flight into England, the stories leave out those travelling with her.
It's also adjascent to the path of the first stage of the Tour de France this year through England.
Le Tour Yorkshire appears to have lots of public support with loads of cycle-related decor, invitations to watch the tour from the pub nearby, and general promotion on the route to the castle. We travelled on some roads featuring big signs about closures on 5 July for the tour. There's certainly some serious hills and hairpin turns to make the first day exciting.
Driving with Sir Vitus and HE Isabel's brother A, we travelled briskly; Vitus is comfortable at speeds on country roads that I'd never attempt, all the while remarking that it's insane that the speed limit is 60mph along here... as if the speed limit were mandatory not a limit. We succeeded in getting air over a humpback bridge that had no signs I could find at the bottom of a tight turn - on the downside I swear the Vitus-wagon was airborne.
The castle cafe, we found, was the one place not closed at midafternoon - pubs in the country close their kitchens between lunch and dinner, something unheard of in London. Fortunately the last few hot dishes (basically soup and sandwiches) were excellent and we all felt better for eating before starting to unpack and put up pavilions.
We were soon followed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jpgsawyer and edith_hedingham arriving with their pavilion, and we quite filled the small flat grass area to one side of the castle. Perched on a hillside, there are fine views from the castle, including over the maze garden and vineyard; just glorious.
The drawback of filling this space was thatnusbacher and her eldest had no space, arriving very late that night - they opted to crash in the castle rather than try to find flat space in pitch black. They ended up staying in the castle all weekend.
The castle is delightful and looking at other peoples' photos I clearly didn't see half of it, but was caught up immediately in the business of the day. I missed the gardens, the forge and the maze, and can only hope we get another chance to visit in future.
With the tent and pavilion furniture up, I changed to visit the second half of the site, the Jonas Centre, a sort-of scout-camp-ish thing on the other side of the small town. This was accommodation for most of the guests, in cabins with a kitchen and shared dining space where many folks gathered on Friday evening and Sat night. I caught up with the Irish contingent, got a chance to chat withgothwalk and some of his household, who have useful insights about better serving newcomers online in the Society.
I quizzed them to find out if anyone has caught the irishman responsible forpogbody getting pregnant. Not yet, though I suspect they know, they just aren't saying...
Their highnesses had had an adventure: her highnesses' luggage had gone AWoL, with all her new coronation outfit, jewelry, accessories (handmade shoes, beaded gloves, the works) as well as all her personal stuff. Her party stopped in town to shop for overnight clothes and toiletries while her entourage and Brighthelm scrambled an outfit.
It was remarkable; in the end, though most people had heard of the baggage-train problem, you wouldn't have known to see their highnesses, then majesties, on the day. HRM Morrigan was beautifully and suitably turned out, and they opted to enter court bareheaded as is done in some other lands. (The one time they check the coronets...)
HRM Morrigan's luggage has since turned up...in Kansas City, apparently, acc to news I heard 25 June (10+ days later). Easy to mistake for Yorkshire!
It was fun to do court again; to be in on the discussion, to pick up wherearyanhwy led to, to hear nusbacher's eldest speak so beautifully and crisply. A did a great job. nusbacher also had a speaking role reading the Albion tale and of course she did a fine job. The vibes were warm and friendly throughout; the goodwill for both Prothall and Cecilia and for Leif and Morrigan were palpable.
It was a beautiful day out, at a beautiful site, with fencing through the maze to watch, scribing to do, and a castle to take in. For the keen, you could help with the cooking in the castle kitchen; unfortunately the fire didn't draw well and the kitchen windows were limited to a small gap, so the castle gradually filled with smoke, including the gift shop. I don't think the gift shop staffer was best pleased!
The falonry display had a keen and interested audience, appreciating the splendid hawks that sat so calmly on the falconer's fist.
I sat in on a meeting of the Insulae Draconis Inc group - the little group of folks involved in planning the move to incorporation and afiliate status. It was very productive and planned to meet, um, last weekend on skype. Whoops...
Feast was delightful, sitting withjpgsawyer and edith_hedingham, who arrived well supplied with red wine, yum. Further down the table were a Lochac couple and their two daughters; they are living in the UK for another year(?) and decided to lash out to visit an event in a castle, though they'd mostly planned not to play while abroad. They seemed an excellent fit and Dame Marguerite and Thomas F had lots of shared memories.
Second court at feast was well received. The good vibes continued, the food was excellent, the impromptu AoA was very welcome and very apt. I was happy to be involved.
Robert engaged in some profound silliness during court: while someone ran to fetch a recipient at court leaving an awkward gap, he broke out the so called coconut shells (2 wooden bowls, really) and enacted the search on horseback for the missing recipient, playing out searching, leaping over logs, ducking through rivers. It was very silly and very funny.
For some reason, this was the event that I got a half-dozen compliments on my gown. It's a gown I've worn for several years, one I 'made new' (adding a new lining, redoing all the lacings) 2 years ago to wear under my Tudor gown.
It must have been the summer air, or else just the whole outfit with the coronet.
Robert swanked about in his princely-stepping-down outfit most of the day, just adding coronet in the evening (unfortunately my matching outfit is in the shop with the sleeves in the UFO pile).
The pic looks like all the peers have been drawn together by a 4 year old in the middle.
In the evening I drifted over to the Jonas centre to help tidy up - hobbitomm was shlepping pots and pans and serving ware back from the kitchen mostly alone, so Catherine Weaver, nz_bookwyrm and Catlin and I pitched in for awhile. Nothing's more gross than waking up to piles of dirty dishes in the morning.
Sunday was soggy; the sheep in the field looked like extras from the old Looney Tunes cartoon, where Ralf wolf and Sam sheepdog are competing for the sheep. Sheep really do have these tiny sticklike legs under huge coats.
Breakfast gave me an excuse to feed up (alas, without Turkish coffee as Sat morning courtesy ofnz_bookwyrm) before tackling the pavilion, and chat to Barun Pol about archery, among other things, and gradually the weather lightened. We still had to pack down wet canvas, but fortunately Vitus has a big conservatory that is warm in summer and is excellent for airing canvas, and he takes good care of our collective kit.
The last treat of Bolton was spotting their family of boars across the paddock. The boars have piglets, not the tiny stripey cute stage but a bit bigger, but still fascinating to us city slickers.
One more good meal in the castle cafe (special meal for Father's day! very apt with Vitus surrounded by his family) and we set off.
On the return trip we saved a couple of hours journey by having Isabel drop us off at Luton airport parkway, which is a train stop on the northeast corner outside the M25, from where we could change and get to a station near us. Saved the trek round the M25, hurrah.
Haggis was very glad to see us, of course, but showed every sign of having been pampered by her new contract staff the neighbours.
Though it's a trek, this site shows every sign of being a lovely venue for fair-weather events. Many people remarked on how pleasant it was compared to in February! which isn't a great surprise. In heavy weather it would not have been so charming but we were blessed this weekend, and I think we made the most of it.
It's also adjascent to the path of the first stage of the Tour de France this year through England.
Le Tour Yorkshire appears to have lots of public support with loads of cycle-related decor, invitations to watch the tour from the pub nearby, and general promotion on the route to the castle. We travelled on some roads featuring big signs about closures on 5 July for the tour. There's certainly some serious hills and hairpin turns to make the first day exciting.
Driving with Sir Vitus and HE Isabel's brother A, we travelled briskly; Vitus is comfortable at speeds on country roads that I'd never attempt, all the while remarking that it's insane that the speed limit is 60mph along here... as if the speed limit were mandatory not a limit. We succeeded in getting air over a humpback bridge that had no signs I could find at the bottom of a tight turn - on the downside I swear the Vitus-wagon was airborne.
The castle cafe, we found, was the one place not closed at midafternoon - pubs in the country close their kitchens between lunch and dinner, something unheard of in London. Fortunately the last few hot dishes (basically soup and sandwiches) were excellent and we all felt better for eating before starting to unpack and put up pavilions.
We were soon followed by
jpgsawyer and edith_hedingham arriving with their pavilion, and we quite filled the small flat grass area to one side of the castle. Perched on a hillside, there are fine views from the castle, including over the maze garden and vineyard; just glorious.The drawback of filling this space was that
nusbacher and her eldest had no space, arriving very late that night - they opted to crash in the castle rather than try to find flat space in pitch black. They ended up staying in the castle all weekend.The castle is delightful and looking at other peoples' photos I clearly didn't see half of it, but was caught up immediately in the business of the day. I missed the gardens, the forge and the maze, and can only hope we get another chance to visit in future.
With the tent and pavilion furniture up, I changed to visit the second half of the site, the Jonas Centre, a sort-of scout-camp-ish thing on the other side of the small town. This was accommodation for most of the guests, in cabins with a kitchen and shared dining space where many folks gathered on Friday evening and Sat night. I caught up with the Irish contingent, got a chance to chat with
gothwalk and some of his household, who have useful insights about better serving newcomers online in the Society.I quizzed them to find out if anyone has caught the irishman responsible for
pogbody getting pregnant. Not yet, though I suspect they know, they just aren't saying...Their highnesses had had an adventure: her highnesses' luggage had gone AWoL, with all her new coronation outfit, jewelry, accessories (handmade shoes, beaded gloves, the works) as well as all her personal stuff. Her party stopped in town to shop for overnight clothes and toiletries while her entourage and Brighthelm scrambled an outfit.
It was remarkable; in the end, though most people had heard of the baggage-train problem, you wouldn't have known to see their highnesses, then majesties, on the day. HRM Morrigan was beautifully and suitably turned out, and they opted to enter court bareheaded as is done in some other lands. (The one time they check the coronets...)
HRM Morrigan's luggage has since turned up...in Kansas City, apparently, acc to news I heard 25 June (10+ days later). Easy to mistake for Yorkshire!
It was fun to do court again; to be in on the discussion, to pick up where
aryanhwy led to, to hear nusbacher's eldest speak so beautifully and crisply. A did a great job. nusbacher also had a speaking role reading the Albion tale and of course she did a fine job. The vibes were warm and friendly throughout; the goodwill for both Prothall and Cecilia and for Leif and Morrigan were palpable.It was a beautiful day out, at a beautiful site, with fencing through the maze to watch, scribing to do, and a castle to take in. For the keen, you could help with the cooking in the castle kitchen; unfortunately the fire didn't draw well and the kitchen windows were limited to a small gap, so the castle gradually filled with smoke, including the gift shop. I don't think the gift shop staffer was best pleased!
The falonry display had a keen and interested audience, appreciating the splendid hawks that sat so calmly on the falconer's fist.
I sat in on a meeting of the Insulae Draconis Inc group - the little group of folks involved in planning the move to incorporation and afiliate status. It was very productive and planned to meet, um, last weekend on skype. Whoops...
Feast was delightful, sitting with
jpgsawyer and edith_hedingham, who arrived well supplied with red wine, yum. Further down the table were a Lochac couple and their two daughters; they are living in the UK for another year(?) and decided to lash out to visit an event in a castle, though they'd mostly planned not to play while abroad. They seemed an excellent fit and Dame Marguerite and Thomas F had lots of shared memories.Second court at feast was well received. The good vibes continued, the food was excellent, the impromptu AoA was very welcome and very apt. I was happy to be involved.
Robert engaged in some profound silliness during court: while someone ran to fetch a recipient at court leaving an awkward gap, he broke out the so called coconut shells (2 wooden bowls, really) and enacted the search on horseback for the missing recipient, playing out searching, leaping over logs, ducking through rivers. It was very silly and very funny.
For some reason, this was the event that I got a half-dozen compliments on my gown. It's a gown I've worn for several years, one I 'made new' (adding a new lining, redoing all the lacings) 2 years ago to wear under my Tudor gown.
It must have been the summer air, or else just the whole outfit with the coronet.
Robert swanked about in his princely-stepping-down outfit most of the day, just adding coronet in the evening (unfortunately my matching outfit is in the shop with the sleeves in the UFO pile).
The pic looks like all the peers have been drawn together by a 4 year old in the middle.
In the evening I drifted over to the Jonas centre to help tidy up - hobbitomm was shlepping pots and pans and serving ware back from the kitchen mostly alone, so Catherine Weaver, nz_bookwyrm and Catlin and I pitched in for awhile. Nothing's more gross than waking up to piles of dirty dishes in the morning.
Sunday was soggy; the sheep in the field looked like extras from the old Looney Tunes cartoon, where Ralf wolf and Sam sheepdog are competing for the sheep. Sheep really do have these tiny sticklike legs under huge coats.
Breakfast gave me an excuse to feed up (alas, without Turkish coffee as Sat morning courtesy of
nz_bookwyrm) before tackling the pavilion, and chat to Barun Pol about archery, among other things, and gradually the weather lightened. We still had to pack down wet canvas, but fortunately Vitus has a big conservatory that is warm in summer and is excellent for airing canvas, and he takes good care of our collective kit.The last treat of Bolton was spotting their family of boars across the paddock. The boars have piglets, not the tiny stripey cute stage but a bit bigger, but still fascinating to us city slickers.
One more good meal in the castle cafe (special meal for Father's day! very apt with Vitus surrounded by his family) and we set off.
On the return trip we saved a couple of hours journey by having Isabel drop us off at Luton airport parkway, which is a train stop on the northeast corner outside the M25, from where we could change and get to a station near us. Saved the trek round the M25, hurrah.
Haggis was very glad to see us, of course, but showed every sign of having been pampered by her new contract staff the neighbours.
Though it's a trek, this site shows every sign of being a lovely venue for fair-weather events. Many people remarked on how pleasant it was compared to in February! which isn't a great surprise. In heavy weather it would not have been so charming but we were blessed this weekend, and I think we made the most of it.
