OR A TRUE RELATION OF STRANGE PROCEEDINGS IN A SOMERSETSHIRE LOFT AND THE FIELDS ABOUNDING

Wednesday 27 August 2014

A CASTLE, TWO PARTERRES, AND A GROVE OF ORANGE TREES

We piled into the car today and headed up the Wye Valley to Goodrich castle. Last time I was there was in 1997 with the ECWS taking part in a brilliant siege with earthworks , gabions etc , probably one of the best re-enactment events I've taken part in.

English Heritage have tarted up their reception area, and racked up the prices, but there were some interesting exhibits,

Roaring Meg, the only surviving ECW mortar used in the 1646 siege











Two gargoyles I don't remember from my 1997 visit.





The Norman keep

The castle seems to grow out of the rock



Some lovely Herefordshire/Monmouthshire countryside



George tries his hand at the mysterious art of gunnery.

After visiting the castle we went on to Westbury Court Gardens, a rare surviving example of a late 17c Dutch style water garden

A fine canal

Neptune reigns here (I am writing a paper on pagan imagery in 18c gardens, but may have to include this as he is 1690's)

I can just imagine Mr. Neville from the Draughtsman's Contract setting up his easel here.




The pavilion from the end of the long canal.

All in all a jolly day out mixing warfare and gardening.



7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. No indeed, it was very pleasant, dry but not too hot.

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  2. Lovely photos of what looks lie it was a grand day out.
    A life sized cardboard cut out of Mr Neville would be an amausing conceit on the National trust's part or even a living statue perchance...
    The paper sounds interesting too.
    When you say pagan imagery do you mean Greco/Roman/Classical essentially or other stuff too?

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    Replies
    1. I didn't notice any funny green men darting about the garden, but they may have been well hidden. The pagan stuff is mainly classical, although there are mock druidic temples scattered about and the Temple of Saxon Deities at Stowe.....

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  3. Some very interesting pictures. I'm off to look at stone rows, circles and cairns on Dartmoor tomorrow!

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  4. What a wonderful spot. I visited many castles when I briefly lived in the UK (15 years ago) but never go to that area.

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    1. Yes, the countryside on the Welsh borders is some of the best in Britain. We are lucky to have plenty of castles here, but I would like to see so many places in the USA, primarily Lovecraftian settings as well as King Philips War areas.

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