Long's Park Castle
As it has been so long since one of the Abingdon School lot had a wedding (whose fault could that possibly be? I blame Pie!), we haven't had an opportunity to meet in a random part of the UK (or Belgium) recently for a long weekend and a decent catch-up as a large group. To make up for this shortfall in meetings, Paul and Emma were at the forefront of organising a weekend away, just for the sake of it.
Paul sent round an e-mail a few months ago with a number of cottages that were available for large groups of singletons, married couples and small children. He finished his e-mail with a final, more expensive option - we could stay in a castle in Wiltshire. Fairly obviously, expense and practicality were ignored as the lure of living for one weekend in a castle was far too great. I'm sure Paul knew the rest of us well enough to know that Long's Park Castle would be the winner, but he feigned surprise at the decision. However, he was still happy enough to go along with the plan, so he duly booked it for a weekend at the end of January.
I arrived on the Friday night after work and everyone else had already arrived. As it was dark, I couldn't check out too many of the castle-y elements to the place, but I could see that it met most of the basic criteria - I mean it had turrets and battlements and that kind of thing. The darkness however did not affect my view of the fine suit of armour in the dining room, nor of the smaller suit of armour in the spiral staircase up to one of the towers.
The dining room was the main focal point of the property, as the table was long enough for all fourteen adults and four children to sit comfortably at the same time. The conservatory was the other large meeting area, most of us could fit in there at one time. The conservatory was also alternatively known as 'Gary's bedroom' as I had been the last to commit to attending this weekend so didn't get a proper room!
Although it was called a castle, it quickly emerged that (as most of us had expected) it was in fact just a large house with turrets and battlements added. The rooms were, possibly as a result of this, very warm as the heating was on permanently, rather than being cold and draughty as we might have expected from an actual castle, especially on a chilly January weekend.
The immediately surrounding scenery, as I found out on the following morning in the daylight, wasn't the most interesting, but it was a bit greener and contained more fields and woods than you would find in London, so it definitely qualified as 'getting away for the weekend'. The scenery a bit further afield was much nicer. We drove to a very nice country pub for a gastro lunch, then had a short walk along the Kennet and Avon canal. At that point, those with small children and those who were of a more sensible disposition turned back to the car park and drove back to the castle. The more adventurous ones and I decided to walk back to the castle. "I reckon it's only a couple of miles", said Desy, waving his iPhone in the air. This walk took us along a variety of footpaths, bridleways and muddy fields, going over stiles, through gates, past a red phonebox which was actually a library, around a pile of silage, before eventually turning for home along a busy main road about five miles later. We got back to the castle just as it was getting dark, so perfect timing.
The castle was notable for having signs up on every wall, electrical appliance, door or piece of furniture telling us what we were not allowed to do on / in /with it. Each bedroom did have a notice telling us not to have fun, followed by 'only joking'. However we knew what the owners' views really were, and we did feel that the notices were unduly rude and prescriptive, and did suck a bit of fun out of the house. We did though still manage to have a bit of fun. It was only after we'd climbed out of the top floor window and walked along the battlements that we found that such behaviour was strictly prohibited.
It was a interesting place though, and the purpose which we had hired the castle for - to meet up as a large group and catch up with each other - was well met!
After leaving the castle, we spent an afternoon in Lacock, which is a village and abbey owned by the National Trust where everything is olde-style and quaint and well-preserved. We had a good time wandering around there before we said our farewells and headed our separate ways - after a cake from the cake shoppe of course!
Paul sent round an e-mail a few months ago with a number of cottages that were available for large groups of singletons, married couples and small children. He finished his e-mail with a final, more expensive option - we could stay in a castle in Wiltshire. Fairly obviously, expense and practicality were ignored as the lure of living for one weekend in a castle was far too great. I'm sure Paul knew the rest of us well enough to know that Long's Park Castle would be the winner, but he feigned surprise at the decision. However, he was still happy enough to go along with the plan, so he duly booked it for a weekend at the end of January.
I arrived on the Friday night after work and everyone else had already arrived. As it was dark, I couldn't check out too many of the castle-y elements to the place, but I could see that it met most of the basic criteria - I mean it had turrets and battlements and that kind of thing. The darkness however did not affect my view of the fine suit of armour in the dining room, nor of the smaller suit of armour in the spiral staircase up to one of the towers.
The dining room was the main focal point of the property, as the table was long enough for all fourteen adults and four children to sit comfortably at the same time. The conservatory was the other large meeting area, most of us could fit in there at one time. The conservatory was also alternatively known as 'Gary's bedroom' as I had been the last to commit to attending this weekend so didn't get a proper room!
Although it was called a castle, it quickly emerged that (as most of us had expected) it was in fact just a large house with turrets and battlements added. The rooms were, possibly as a result of this, very warm as the heating was on permanently, rather than being cold and draughty as we might have expected from an actual castle, especially on a chilly January weekend.
The immediately surrounding scenery, as I found out on the following morning in the daylight, wasn't the most interesting, but it was a bit greener and contained more fields and woods than you would find in London, so it definitely qualified as 'getting away for the weekend'. The scenery a bit further afield was much nicer. We drove to a very nice country pub for a gastro lunch, then had a short walk along the Kennet and Avon canal. At that point, those with small children and those who were of a more sensible disposition turned back to the car park and drove back to the castle. The more adventurous ones and I decided to walk back to the castle. "I reckon it's only a couple of miles", said Desy, waving his iPhone in the air. This walk took us along a variety of footpaths, bridleways and muddy fields, going over stiles, through gates, past a red phonebox which was actually a library, around a pile of silage, before eventually turning for home along a busy main road about five miles later. We got back to the castle just as it was getting dark, so perfect timing.
The castle was notable for having signs up on every wall, electrical appliance, door or piece of furniture telling us what we were not allowed to do on / in /with it. Each bedroom did have a notice telling us not to have fun, followed by 'only joking'. However we knew what the owners' views really were, and we did feel that the notices were unduly rude and prescriptive, and did suck a bit of fun out of the house. We did though still manage to have a bit of fun. It was only after we'd climbed out of the top floor window and walked along the battlements that we found that such behaviour was strictly prohibited.
It was a interesting place though, and the purpose which we had hired the castle for - to meet up as a large group and catch up with each other - was well met!
After leaving the castle, we spent an afternoon in Lacock, which is a village and abbey owned by the National Trust where everything is olde-style and quaint and well-preserved. We had a good time wandering around there before we said our farewells and headed our separate ways - after a cake from the cake shoppe of course!
posted by Gaz man at 10:34 pm
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