I had been meaning to visit Beeston Castle for a long time. It is only about half an hour away from home, and yet we never quite found time to stop on our travels. Finally, we had a free Bank Holiday Monday, and we went for it, making the most of our English Heritage membership card. My girls were very excited to visit a medieval castle, since they love tales of princesses and knights, and they recently discovered the fun of playing with pretend swords and crossbows. Well, who am I to deny them their warrior heritage?!

It took a while for us to leave the house since I was on my own while their dad was at work. We reluctantly left the dog at home, even though it had turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon. I simply couldn’t fathom managing an excited Staffie X with a preschooler and an adventurous six-year-old by myself. We will take him with us next time, when my husband is at home. I was pleased to see that Beeston Castle is dog friendly, which is always important for our family outings.

I expected to find some sort of May Day activity at Beeston Castle, but I hadn’t checked specifically what was on. We soon discovered a local church fete and a dog show from the K9 2000 team, whom I had never previously heard about. They were very impressive, and very entertaining, and now my elder daughter fancies her chances at training our dog to do some of those display stunts. I very much doubt that will happen!

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We ventured up the steep hillside climb to explore the old castle building. My younger daughter was a little tired at this point, having just had a massive tantrum when I tried to make her walk for a bit after we queued for 45 minutes for them to have their faces painted. Not to be deterred, I alternated between carrying her, and coaxing her, while my elder daughter raced on ahead and shouted encouragingly to her sister. It was worth the stress, because the view from the top is incredible. We didn’t explore fully because of our tired, grumpy preschooler, but we saw enough to satisfy the senses, and I really cannot wait to return.

In fact, we saw a poster advertising the next English Heritage event at Beeston Castle on the weekend of the 28^th– 29^th May. There will be jousting and knights on horseback, so I have to take my girls for that. Perhaps we will see you there?

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