Carisbrooke Castle

 One of the best sites we went to in the UK was Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, a place known to anyone who has ever played Kingmaker. The full history can be found here but key moments of wargaming interest are:

• Successfully fought off a French siege in 1377 (hurrah for the home team).
• Rebuilt with Italian bastions in the 16th century and used as a base in case the Spanish armada landed.
• The gaol of Charles the first prior to trial and execution.

Photos from our visit.

Medieval walls in the background, Italian bastions in the foreground

The Gatehouse

There was a late 17th century reenactment group on site.  Looked like a good show, but we only saw them from afar.

Redcoats, floppy hats and big cuffs, what's not to love

The wall walk was in pretty good nick.  In the first half of teh 20th century the Castle was the home of Queen Victoria's youngest Princess Beatrice who did it up nicely. 

Looking down on the height of 16th century military engineering.

There's donkey powered well on site, with several donkeys to work it.  They weren't at work when we were there due to the reenactment event, but we got to meet a couple.

The view from the top

No need for the stair master, we had our leg workout.

Well worth a visit if you're on the Isle of Wight.  It's good place to drag the family too, kids love castles and donkeys and there's non-military history to boot.

Visit to the UK Summer 2024

I am late on posting this of course, but my wife and I traveled to England for a couple weeks in July and August.  It was family centred visit, for a family week at a Caravan site on the Isle of Wight.  This is essentially the UK equivalent of renting a cabin at the lake for the week, but for us involved long flights and expensive airfare.  Three were 20 off family members there at the peak, and we were glad that we went as it will almost certainly be the last of the annual caravan vacations (we ended to go every second year our so due to cost and other plans etc).

On the whole a great visit but it was a short due to the heat of a strike by my faculty union (resolved just before we left).  My wife came down with COVID while on the Isle but I waited til we had been back home for two days before getting it.  On the whole a lot better than our trip two years ago, which involved me upchucking all over a Waterstone's bookstore, spending the night in Casualty, missing our flight and having to rebook and then fighting an insurance company for months to get reimbursed.

We spent a few days in London either side of our caravan trip.  Highlights included poking around, a visit to the London Transport Museum and seeing Hello Dolly with Imelda Staunton (Delores Umbridge from Harry Potter).  It's a great musical and well recommended.

It being the UK you can't go anywhere without running into history so I'll post some shots of some sites of wargaming interest in the next few days.