Thankfully all flights and buses went as planned and we arrived in Warwick at 9pm yesterday. It was still completely bright as though it was daytime.

The village/town is stunning and blew us away during our taxi ride from the station to the b&b. There are beautiful leafy trees everywhere with houses slotted in and a pretty river flowing through it. There are blocks of different types of houses, pitched terra-cotta roofs with flat white facades or crooked traditional old white houses with the dark beams exposed. Oh and a pub across the road so Tom was happy! Towering over all is the beautiful tower of an abbey and we know the castle is hidden somewhere. You can definitely tell that Warwickshire is Shakespeare country!

Today we visited Warwick Castle. The walk up from the castle gates was eerie with huge walls of forest, meters above us on either side feeling like something out of Arthurian legend. The castle is positively huge as the grounds seem never ending. It was built by William the Conquerer in the late 11th century.

Although no one lives there any more, the stately rooms are entirely intact with spectacular portraits, armor and weaponry. There are big displays everywhere with very lifelike figures showing what life was like from medieval times through to times when the castle was host to royalty such as Queen Victoria.

We walked along all the upper walls and up and down dizzying staircases of every tower - though Tom didn't want to pay to see Princess tower haha. Indeed some of the stairs were so steep you almost felt like you were climbing a spiral stone ladder! It was a good work out in any case and the views of the grounds and of Warwick were well worth the effort. We also had fun watching an amazing man fire crossbows and longbows at a far away target in the castle grounds - he only missed twice!

While quite touristy and gimmicky (the Merlin activity was a bit boring) the castle was fun and, along with the town of Warwick itself, a very beautiful place.