English Castles - Part 2

By C. LaRene Hall

After traveling back to England, the first castle we decided to go to was the Farleigh Hungerford ruins. The gatehouse was two stories and the arch was set in a square-headed recess into which the drawbridge closed. Above was the family coat of arms. The chapel was amazing and stood above a crypt where 16th and 17th century Hungerford’s are visible. Indented into them are the death masks of the deceased. Also around the sides of the tombs are coats of arms.

The only thing left of the 13th century Winchester Castle is the great hall. It is famous for King Arthur’s Round Table, which has hung in the hall since at least 1463. The many stain glass windows were stunning.



The Wolvesey castle ruins, is also in Winchester, and was formerly the principle residence of the Bishops of Winchester. The Roundheads destroyed it during the English Civil War in 1646.


One other place we visited that I consider a castle is Buckingham Palace. We arrived early enough to get a close spot to take pictures of the changing of the guards. Today this palace is the weekday home of the Queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of York, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

This certainly wasn’t the end of our trip, just the end of visiting castles. I'll be out of town for a week so next year, I’ll tell you about all the churches we saw along the way.

Castles in Wales

By C. LaRene Hall

We continued our tour of castle in Wales and our first stop was the Chepstow, which is a Norman Castle ruin sitting high above the banks of the river Wye. It has a twin tower gatehouse. We were interested in their displays of printed placards explaining the castle’s history along with wax figures of the Marshal Family.


Then we drove to a 12th century Norman Keep, the Cardiff Castle. I was surprised to find this castle in the middle of a busy city. On the tour, we learned that they decorated all the rooms around a theme. The most common themes were astrological and Biblical. I loved the beautiful clock tower, and the room that represented the seasons of the year and the days of the week. It was no surprise to find the nursery decorated with fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

English Castles - Part 1

By C. LaRene Hall

In England, the castles were much the same, ancient. The first one we visited was the Alnwick Medieval Castle. They filmed the Harry Potter movie there. For over 700 years, this castle has been a family home. The English and Scots fought many battles here. I enjoyed watching the performance of the British Soldiers on the green.


I slept at the Durham Castle.


The next Castle on our agenda was the Raby Castle. The Nevell’s built this 14th century medieval castle. During the tour, I was surprised to learn that the garrison room has 20 feet thick walls. They built the chapel between 1364 and 1367. The most interesting room was the octagon drawing room.


Next, we crossed the River Tees and climbed a path up the large hill to arrive at the ancient ruins of the Bernard Balliol’s Castle. This is the largest medieval castle in northern England. If it had been a cooler day, I would have enjoyed my stroll among the ruins much more.


In Nottingham, they built this 17th century ducal mansion on the site of the original medieval castle. I enjoyed the wonderful landscaping with bushes shaped as Robin Hood and a knight on a horse. The other things I enjoyed seeing was the beautiful designs on the walkway near the entrance.



The largest castle ruin in England is the Kenilworth Castle. My heart ached as I wandered among the red sandstone remains. What a waste of so much history.


At the Warwick Castle, we explored towers, and dungeons. The entire day and evening was wonderful and everything I expected. I loved sitting below the castle on the bank of the Avon River and watching the trebuchet – a catapult – hurling projectiles. It was exciting to watch the knight putting armor on the squire then they battled it out in hand-to-hand combat. There were knights on horses and a jousting match. In the evening, we attended a five-course meal, the King Maker’s Feast.

Scottish Castles

By C. LaRene Hall

The one thing I never tired of on my trip to Europe in 2006 was the endless castles. They were all different, and each had something unique that I liked. The pictures are all mine, taken with my new digital camera received the prior Christmas in anticipation of this trip. I’ll confess I’m not a photographer.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but since it was my first castle, I have to mention the Dumbarton Medieval Castle ruins. I liked the fact that in the 9th century it served as the Viking’s headquarters. Another interesting story is the castle protected Mary, Queen of Scots, while she was a young girl until her safe removal to France.

Next, we drove to the Isle of Bute, and saw the circular Rothesay Castle ruins. I also mentioned this one before but didn’t mention that strolling among the ruins was intriguing. In fact, I was so enthralled I forgot to take any pictures.

Before leaving Scotland, we had to see the Edinburgh Castle. All of the streets inside the castle were cobblestone, which was difficult to walk on. We were fortunate to get a ride to the top of the huge castle where you could see a splendid view of the entire city. The most fascinating room was the heavily guarded one with Scotland‘s glittering crown jewels. The Saint Margaret Chapel was beautiful, and is the oldest building in the city. We took time to visit the Scottish National War Memorial. Everyone was excited to watch the one o’clock gun ceremony. They have fired the guns almost every day except Sunday since 1861. This was a busy castle, but well worth the time to visit.

I'm Still Dreaming

By C. LaRene Hall

As a young girl, I often dreamed of marrying a prince and living in a large beautiful castle. Little did I know that someday a small portion of those fantasies would come true. I did marry, and I did spend an entire night sleeping in a castle.

The room wasn’t in the center of the castle. In fact, it was as far away from the Great Hall as you could get. My room was located under the Gatehouse. It was small, nothing fancy, with a small bed, and desk. It was quiet and I spent an enjoyable peaceful night.

The gatehouse

Getting to this castle wasn’t easy, although in England as we neared Durham I could see the top steeples. It reminded me of the many others times that I could see the place I wanted to go, but I couldn’t find a road to take me there. We drove up a narrow single lane path, but part way there I was sure we was going to the wrong way. No big castle would be up this tiny road. As soon as we could, we turned around and tried another direction. Finally, we stopped to ask for directions. A customer in the store said we could follow him. Much to my surprise, we were again driving on that same familiar small path. In full view, I saw what looked like a tall magnificent church. I knew it had to be the cathedral. So where was the castle? I knew we were close. There hidden behind a wall of stone stood this ancient building, the Durham Castle.

The following morning my sister and I went to the Great Hall for an authentic English breakfast. Afterwards, they took us on a tour of the castle that included the Norman Chapel built in 1078, and the Tunstall Chapel built in 1540.

The castle looked just like the ones in my childhood dreams. The kitchen was huge, the bedchambers elegant, and the ballroom magnificent. I was truly grateful that I had booked this wonderful room ahead of time so I could have the experience of a lifetime.

The one place I’m still dreaming about staying is at Camelot. I get emails frequently about that magical place, but I doubt I’ll ever get to stay there. England’s a long way from home.

I Love Parades

By C. LaRene Hall

I guess I inherit my love of parades legitimately. For as long as I can remember my parents loved parades. As a young girl, I remember watching my father riding in the back of a pickup (a Boy Scout float) flipping pancakes as they moved down the parade route in Provo.

After we had a TV, every Thanksgiving Day our family watched the Macy Parade on television, and then on New Years Day we watched the Rose Parade. I never imagined I would be able to see either one of them in person, but in 1975, my three children, my parents, and I went to California to watch the parade. Two of my sisters were marching with the Kearns High School Cougar Marching Band. One played the bells and the other twirled a flag.

The Rose Parade was wonderful and the sixty-one flowered floats were as beautiful, as I had dreamed they would be. I found a picture of one entitled International Peace Garden depicting 200 years of peace between two great nations. As is the rule for all entries, thousand of roses, and other flowers covered the float.

Along the parade route the night before, hundreds of cars drove up and down the street, honking horns all night long. This was a parade in itself and though it wasn’t beautiful, it was entertaining. Later, I read that this was the worst behaved crowd they had ever seen. I thought it was great, although my small children had a hard time sleeping.

In Salt Lake City, we have a celebration with a parade every July 24th. After the city decided that people could stay overnight on the route, my father always took chairs and saved seats. Many memorable nights were spent visiting with him as we sat together to make sure our family could have a good place to watch as the parade passed in front of us. Every year I look forward to seeing the beautifully decorated floats in Salt Lake. I’ve help decorate a few and know all the hard work that takes place so someone can enjoy a great parade.

Last year while planning a vacation, I learned that in Shenandoah, Virginia we could see floats from the Rose Parades, Presidential Inaugurals and other national celebrations at the American Celebration of Parade. Inside the building are floats of all kinds. Some are funny, others beautiful, some amazing, others stunning, and some are for children. I took about 20 pictures of the floats, and I’ll include a few of them for you to see. If you enjoy parades, maybe someday you can go visit this incredible place.

Medieval Castles

By C. LaRene Hall

In 2006, my sister and I took a trip to Scotland. I had never been that far from home before. The day after our arrival, we headed out on the motorway towards the Isle of Bute, by way of the Dumbarton Medieval Castle.

The word Medieval enchanted me. I had never gone to a castle before and I could hardly wait to arrive. The first thing I saw was the high twin peaked volcanic rock. I had no idea what was in store, and how many stairs I would climb. Still it was a fascinating experience and well worth my time.

After entering the main gate, we climbed a hill. Once on top of the rock (not the very top) I looked over the stonewall, and watched the River Clyde and the River Leven below. I’m sure this was a safe place during war, and wondered how anyone could climb the steep rock to attack those inside. Behind me stood the remains of 13th and 15th century fortifications, and the 18th century Governor’s House, which stood on a volcanic outcrop of rock.

It’s tempting to tell you the history of this castle, but not everyone enjoys history as much as I do. I was standing in a place that dated back to the dark ages. The Romans and Vikings once stood here. We climbed and climbed, but never reached the top. Both of us decided we were too old to do this and it would take all day. Since we had other plans besides climbing stairs all day we left and drove to Calentravie to catch a ferry that would take us to the Isle of Bute.

Once on the island we headed toward the center of Rothesay where an early 1200s circular courtyard castle stood, surrounded by a moat. The fortress seemed out of place in the center of a busy modern town. Surrounding the castle was a large wall with a round tower in each of the four corners. The entrance was across a drawbridge.

Neither of the castles we visited that day were anything like those in fairytales, and they weren’t as elegant as those you see in books. To me they held a different sort of charm, and were magical in an unusual way. These fortresses were full of history and its fun for me to imagine the men protecting what they had worked hard to obtain.