Trip to Berkeley Castle
On a beautiful warm, sunny Midsummer Day ten members of the MOTO Group gathered at Berkeley Castle. Some opted for a guided tour of the Castle while others wandered at will.
A display of “ghostly” wire sculptures was in place in and around the Castle. These ranged from a couple of artillery men with their cannon on the Gun Terrace, Queen Elizabeth I in all her glory (including her red hair) in one of the Sitting Rooms, to a modern gardener with his wheelbarrow watched by a robin perched on a garden fork. It must have taken great patience and very deft fingers to create these figures.
The castle itself contained many remarkable artefacts and portraits, spanning the 800 years of its existence. Drake's beautifully decorated travelling chest must have taken up a considerable amount of room in his cabin aboard ship. The elaborate glass and silver, set up for a meal, on the long table in the Dining Room glittered in the sunshine. Recycling was practised apparently in past centuries. The high vaulted roof over the kitchen had originally been on Wotton Manor House and was removed from that no longer inhabited building in the 1490s. The many rooms and corridors were on different levels which resulted in many sets of steps – dozens of them! The servants in past eras must have been fit, running up and down them all day and probably most of the night too. The Castle, and its surrounding grounds and gardens, is certainly a place of much historical significance.
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By mid afternoon a rest and some refreshments were called for. Everyone made for the Yurt for tea and to sample cakes from the nice (but very naughty) selection displayed on the counter. A very pleasant outing.
Mary George