Claire knits and crochets: Day 3 - Dover Castle at last

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Not too far from home today, so we had a leisurely drive up to Folkestone Morrisons for breakfast and a little shopping, whilst the nice chappy in the carpark repaired the stone chip in the windscreen that we had picked up on our way to Groombridge yesterday. That done, we pootled up the A20 to Dover.

Now, the problem with Dover is that the only flat bits are vertical, so you have to be fairly fit - and we're not. Well Alex is, but Ivan and I are definitely not. Amber decided to forgo the pleasures of Dover Castle and stayed at home.

Dover Castle is an English Heritage property, so we joined - getting 15 months for the price of 12 which is £75 for two adults. Now that sounds a lot but when you think it would have cost us £35 to get in today, then you can see it won't take a lot to make that back, especially as there are oodles of EH properties within easy driving distance.

There is so much there that we didn't get to finish before the site closed - no matter we can use our card and go back to finish :o) But we did manage to get in a tour of the Secret Wartime Tunnels. So secret in fact, that you're still not allowed to film or take photos in there even to this day!!! Not that that stopped the foreign visitors. Interestingly there were a lot of German visitors in our group!!!

However, I think the highspot of the day was at the Keep when, with a bit of very impressive timing, we managed to stagger back up there just in time for the afternoon audience with Henry II and Prince John.

It all started at the bottom of the Keep with the King's Steward inviting one and all to partake in remnants of the King's meal - a couple of lackies - all in period costume - were handing out dried fruit and nuts!!!

The actors were very impressive and did not drop out of character even when faced with deliberately !! awkward questions and comments. OK, I did try it on.

Anyway, the Keep is very, very, very high and Prince John popped his head over the battlements to find out what the steward was doing and to tell him that he could see Calais from there. The steward promptly told him that he was sure that Calais could also see him, and then invited him down to visit us down and outs littering the castle grounds.

We were all invited into the main hall of the Keep for an Audience with King Henry II ….. and the steps were a killer. I just managed to get to the top and collapsed onto a bench carefully placed to catch unfit specimens such as myself going through cardiac arrest.

The Keep has recently been re-decorated in the style that would have probably been there during Henry’s reign and there are some beautifully embroidered canopies and soft furnishings in there. Some have been done by the Royal School of Needlework, no less.

My son, Alex, fearless as he is, decided to sit himself on the royal dais – much to the amusement of Prince John and the steward. I somehow, don’t think that they expected this to be part of the entertainment but they rose to the challenge admirably. In fact too admirably as Alex wanted to carry on talking to them and had to be persuaded to sit on the floor and watch the show.

The actors must have been boiling in those outfits as it was very hot and overcast today.

Absolutely brilliant time though, even though every slope seemed to be steeper and more precipitous than the last. And there seemed to be considerably more UP than DOWN whilst we were dripping around. I have got to have lost weight this week, even with the icecreams and cream teas and big breakfasts. We didn’t eat too much today, but I spent a fortune on drinks.

Anyway, here are some of the lovely decorations in the main hall and the King’s bedchamber.

Canopy over the thrones – difficult to see in this picture but this is goldwork.