Richmond Castle for some Medieval Mayhem

Recently, the five of us were invited by English Heritage to attend one of their summer events; to discover how much fun learning about the past can be. I decided on ‘Medieval Mayhem’ at Richmond Castle, because I knew that Win and Ru especially would love it. We ended up staying all day and had a brilliant (and very windy) time exploring all that Richmond Castle had to offer.

On arrival we checked the activity schedule to make sure we didn’t miss a thing. Win and Ru managed to have a go at archery, dress up as knights, climb the walls, listen to stories about Robin Hood, explore the gardens, witness a real archery competition, walk on stilts and their favourite – learn about weapons and watch some ‘real’ combat. We had a picnic on the grass and enjoyed spotting some really fantastic costumes.

The castle is set in the stunning Yorkshire Dales, and is one of the greatest Norman fortresses in Britain. The castle provided such a wonderful playground – one with little alcoves, tiny tunnels, unusual windows, and the boys were sad to leave.

An English Heritage membership gives you unlimited access to over 400 historic places in the UK – castles, abbeys, gardens, monuments and everything in between. English Heritage is a charity that preserves the past for future generations, something I too feel, is so important.

A couple of things to note when visiting Richmond Castle:

• Signage to the castle is very limited if you are driving. We expected there to be some signage as we got closer, but couldn’t spot any.
• There is no onsite parking, but parking in Richmond was simple, and a quick walk.

Thank you so much to English Heritage for having us!

E xx

Many thanks to English Heritage for having us for the day, free of charge. All thoughts and feelings are my own.