CASTLES AND IRON AGE HILL FORTS

I just spent a few days in Caerphilly, where my father was born.  And one of my favorite things to do there is to tour around Caerphilly Castle, MY castle - as I grew up hearing stories about it.  I never get tired of visiting this remarkable, well preserved castle, built over a Roman fort in about 1266.  And again this time, I looked for the Green Lady, but she didn't make an appearance.  I wrote a story published in Europe Up Close about the castle and the haunting of this Welsh queen,  and you can read about it here:
http://www.europeupclose.com/article/the-green-lady-of-caerphilly-castle/

I had been to Old Sarum iron age hill fort earlier this week, and yesterday, en route to Worcester with my cousin Chris, we passed two more iron age hill forts, British Camp in the Malvern Hills and Bredon Hill.  I'll post photos of these sites later. We only saw them at a distance but it was a beautiful sight.
Today Chris took me to Warwick Castle for an amazing tour.This huge castle dates to the 1300s. and is beautifully preserved as it was lived in up to Victorian times.  One of the features is the dungeon, and a tour there was more spine tingling than any Halloween exhibit I've ever scene.  Downright creepy it is so realistic with interactive displays and actors posing as various characters including the executioner.
A tour through all the rooms of the castle was a wonder and in many of them are the wax figures of the characters who lived there over the years as well as displays of armour used in battle.  I loved the Secrets and Scandals of the Royal Weekend Party.  And guess who was there? The young Winston Churchill!
We also enjoyed the display of birds: eagles, raptors, vulture.  the one thing we didn't see which I'd have liked to watch was the jousting.   It's a fabulous place to visit with lots to do and see.  Today there were many school groups there and they have special events for kids like the Princess Tower.
Coming home we had a bonus visit to Stratford-upon-Avon to Anne Hathaway's house - a place I've always wanted to visit.  There was even a chair there that was supposedly Shakespeare's courting chair!