Medieval Re-enactments are something I thought I would not really enjoy. I thought they would be full of very socially inept "Dungeons & Dragons" players who use it to venture out of the house once a year. But here in England they are set against real medieval castles, rather than "Tudor" pubs in Gold Creek. So as Pippa had tickets to see Toots and the Maytals in concert in Brixton, Amy and I went out to Leeds Castle in Kent to see a Jousting Tournament followed by an outside screening of "A Knight's Tale" with Heath Ledger and his authentic Olde English accent.

We took picnic chairs and set ourselves up in the front row. We actually had a really quick trip out from London so we had time to buy burgers, chips (hot ones? ;o) - ed) and coffee and consider the apple and cinnamon pancakes. We took our seats after seeing Henry VIII stroll out of the bar and head for the jousting ground.

Some of the music was a little out of character and the open precession was to the theme music from "Pirates of the Caribbean", which I will admit is dramatic, but about 5 centuries out. But that moved onto O Fortuna by Carl Orff which was quite up lifting and matched the atmosphere. Well, until Henry VIII called all the children out of the audience to carry a weapon around in a parade. This created something of a Telly Tubbies meets Chucky moment.

The knights came in and rode around a few laps and the atmosphere picked up. Amy and I were at the Blue End so supported Sir Stephen, Sir Ashley and Chelsea, while at the Red End was Sir Someone of Somerset and Sir other person of de Bere..... and Liverpool. I really have forgotten their names, I shall ask Amy if she remembers.

Apart from the jousting there was sword fighting and a bit of story line with the captain of the Blue team being challenged for the leadership of the team. Henry VIII made a good compere as he made modern references to the story and even dealt with the hot air balloon of tourists that landed unexpectedly in the castle grounds half way through the tournament.

The jousting went on for about 1 hour then we had time to relocate our chairs to the screen for a showing of "A Knight's Tale". Also this gave us time to get apple and cinnamon pancakes which Amy showed me how to eat straight off the plate without a knife or fork.....very medieval.

I have seen the movie before but there were extended scenes and with the Castle and a full moon as a back drop it made for a great evening.

Amy is joining Pippa and I when we go to Wiltshire in a few weeks for my birthday. So until then folks, or sooner if anything becomes blog-worthy happens.