Things You Don't Do Unless You Know a Local

My English friends M and R picked the kids and I up at our hotel to take us around for a day trip.  They drove us to the world's shortest ferry trip--about 45 seconds from drive on to drive off!  That's good because the waters were choppy and Helena gets motion sickness.

We went to Purbeck Isle. It's not really an isle, more of a peninsula that is inconvenient to reach via the roads.  So we took the ferry and drove to Corfe Castle.  Corfe is an amazing ruin on the top of a natural hill.  It was a bank holiday weekend, so Medieval re-enactors were there showing off their gear.  We had a fantastic time!

Helena was true to her self, being gutsy by climbing all over things.  Olivia was, as you'd suspect, more cautious.

I love how this shot captures the wind and the view.

The National Heritage people had set up a kids' quiz.  We found seven stations with small posters describing Medieval warfare.  The kids found the shields, read the signs, filled in a sheet and found the secret password.  They won plastic medallions when they returned with their sheets fully filled-in.  I love touches like this--it makes it much easier for the parents to relax and enjoy the visit when the kids are engaged.

Very hilly!  Great view of the display tents.

I love this view looking down to the town with the old cemetery in the shot.

It's hard to see from this shot, I think, but the castle was blown up by Cromwell's men in 1646.  They tried to destroy it, but only succeeded in knocking pieces of it down, but not over.  These two pieces are clearly split apart and at odd angles now.

This is just one of those things that I don't typically experience, travelling on my own without a car.  The description of this in a guidebook wouldn't have piqued my interest, but when my friends suggested it, I knew it'd be a terrific day trip.  I wasn't disappointed.  It was wonderful--easily one of the best days of the trip so far.

Can't be here and not try out some armor.

We took a steam train trip to the shore for a chilly walk.  The kids had fun making a sand drawing with the heels of their shoes.

I can't thank our friends M and R enough for taking us out for such a terrific day.  I'll always look back on it with amazement.  I highly recommend a trip to Corfe Castle to anyone who's visiting Southern England.