Today we ventured out to visit Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire County. It was a free weekend for National Trust sites so we found one close to see. Most castles were made of stone but this a rare red-brick medieval castle built by Ralph Cromwell, Lord Treasurer of England and once one of the most powerful men in England.
It's pretty impressive walking up to the grounds with the moats surrounding the guards house and the 6 story castle.
My cutie kids sitting on one of the old castle walls.
The massive thickness of the walls was evident in the basement. We got the kids to stand up in the window opening.
On one of the floors they had some toys that kids would have played with in the 13th century. Addie really liked the ribbon sticks and Kevin showed her how to play with the ball catching cups.
Every floor had a massive fireplace. Since we are into different fireplaces we had to pose for a picture. There were loads of stone carvings on each but a prevalent one was that of a money back which was the symbol for the Lord Treasurer. Also each floor had loads of stain glassed windows showing the coat of arms for many of the contractors and worksmen who built the castle.
We climbed up 150 stairs to the top of this amazing 6 story castle. One feature I love about this castle that I remember seeing at Kirby Hall as well is the built in hand rail into the stone work.
Here is Addison on top of a grate covering machicolation holes which are common in French castles apparently but not so much in English ones. I guess they used to drop things down through them onto attackers on the ground.
The walk around the battlements on top was really cool. The views were amazing and you could see for miles. We could actually see Lincoln Cathedral in the NW skyline which was some 18-20 miles away!
We let the kids do some running around the castle grounds.
Addison played peek-a-boo with us behind a tree...so cute.
We had eaten lunch at home but we brought along some fruity snacks and cookies to enjoy on the grounds. This is Kevin's new snack he made up for the kids which is a blueberry nestled in a strawberry that I hulled out the stem. They had so much fun with them. The weather was cool, but it has been one of the nicer days we've had so far this year and it's nice to see signs of spring showing up finally.
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