Castles are wonderful, they really have the ability to take you back in time to when life was completely different. Luckily in the UK there's a good few monuments to time gone by, to give us an insight into how life used to many hundreds of years ago.
A couple of hours drive away from where I live is the North Norfolk coast, which although is not as dramatic as some of the UK coastline offers a peaceful experience, with it's low slung landscapes and endless vista.
It's also home to a medieval castle, called Castle Rising. It was built almost 1000 years ago, thats a long way back, my family tree barely scratches the surface, back to the days of William d'Aubigny II, who was part of the Anglo-Norman nobility. Although it was built as a military castle, it became part of the hunting infrastructure, to keep the higher echelons of society amused.
It's been in disrepair over the years, but has now been renovated to give us a glimpse of what life was like for our rulers way back in the day. I visited on a cold November afternoon, with the sun low in the sky, and got a feel for the bleakness of the landscape. Later I drove along the coast a short while to Heacham, where there's a lovely beach to enjoy a drink.
The castle and coastline are part of an area called The Wash, which is a massive estuary that stretches for miles across from Norfolk to Lincolnshire. when the tide goes out if feels like you could walk across. Obviously you couldn't, you would drown, so don't.
Here's a couple of pictures from a lovely afternoon, I hope you enjoy them...
