Framlingham and Orford Castles

Jake had a day off work a week or so ago so we went to check out a couple of castles. First up:
Framlingham Castle.    

It's about an hour east of where we live.  This place was built in the 12th century and was a refuge of Mary Tudor before she became queen in 1553.   Check out Luke... he was messing around with his sword the whole time we were there.  Castles are the best place to practice sword fighting!  haha.  There was a jousting tournament going on the day we visited since it was a bank holiday.

Such a boy.  This picture makes me smile.  He figured out that his belt loops make perfect sword sheaths.

Cool ruins around the castle.. These columns used to support a bridge that went from the upper levels of the castle to the gardens.

On our way in...

 Lots of people were dressed up in their medieval get-up and selling everything from medieval games to foods popular in the different time periods.  The jousting was pretty entertaining.

These people go all out!

The kids got to meet the knights afterward.  Kind of fun!

You can walk around the top of the castle.  Since most castles are up on a hill, the views are pretty great.

Here's the view of the courtyard from the top of the castle...

And another view from the top...

Cool place.  Next up was Orford castle.  It is 15 or 20 min farther east or Framlingham and practically on the coast.  This one reminds me of Lord Farquaad's castle on Shrek... tall and skinny!  This one was built in the 1100s by Henry II.  It's full of steep stairwells and crazy little rooms.  

A view of the back of the castle...

 

It was super windy on top!  Very cool view of the ocean and the cute surrounding town from up there though. 

You can see the ocean from this next view.  Check out the brown water beyond the green fields :)

And more view from the top of the castle.  Cute little village.

Ok, so in this next pic, see that triangle cutout in the wall?  That there is a medieval urinal folks.  haha.  According to the little audio guide we listened to, it was the luxurious thing to have back in the day.  It goes from one of the top chambers which would have been an office for the earl or duke to outside the castle.   

We went over to see the coast after.  This is definitely not the best place in England to see the beach.  Just lots of cold wind, rocks, and brown ocean.  We stayed long enough to throw some rocks in the water and then took off for home.  El was too cold to leave my side.  I carried her around most of the time and we watched Luke and Jake play.  Fun day though!  We love exploring around here.   

Fields of Gold

A lot of the countryside is covered in yellow right now!  I've been told the stuff is called rapeseed, and it's used to make oils for cooking and cosmetics... and it makes my allergies crazy!  I think it's pretty anyway.  We stopped to play in one field on the way home from Lavenham.  There's a footpath that went through this one, so don't worry, we didn't trample the crops :)

 

 

tHeRe WaS a CrOokEd mAN, AnD he WaLkEd a CroOkeD miLE

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

We took a day trip to Lavenham on Saturday.  It's a quirky medieval village about 40 minutes away that was the inspiration for the "Crooked Man" nursery rhyme and home to Jane Taylor who wrote the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."   It's well known for its' crooked houses and the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.  We had a fun afternoon walking around and checking it out!

Um... not sure what Jake was doing in this picture (haha), but here's what it looks like walking down into the village from the church.

Lots of crooked houses to check out!  We just strolled around for a while.

Loved the bright orange/yellow on this one!  Looks like one of your playhouses, dad! :)

Jake wanted a demo pic of how tiny English garages are.  This is pretty typical.

Jake gets a kick out of pub names.  This one was no exception.  Why do Americans have to perv-ize so many normal British words!?  Maybe one day I'll share how our 75 year-old fellow nursery leader asks the children if they want to see her cat.

Here's the village church.  It's not wonky-looking like their houses!  Guess it's a good thing they built it with stone instead of wood :)  People have been worshipping here for 600 years.  

  Thought it was funny how big Jake and Luke look compared to the little doors around the back of the church!  Guess people really are bigger these days!