Princesses rule at Warwick Castle Glamping

WARWICK Castle as a way to turn kids on to history needs no introduction. It’s the ‘go to’ place for school trips, family days out and selfie-taking tourists. 

 

For Bella, our granddaughter’s fifth birthday, we decided it was time to give it a try, but with the extra twist of a night’s glamping in the Knight’s Village, a carefully designed little settlement of lodges and tents by the lake. We stayed in the Princess Felice tent, a substantial circular structure with rugs, dressing up box, chandelier and comfortable beds. Grandma and Granddad were relegated to the two peripheral singles while Princess-for-a day Bella had the four-poster double festooned with pink and purple drapes.

Knight costumes and a range of swords are available to buy at reception, although the designer could perhaps have been a little more adventurous in the choice of colours – only available in pink and blue.

Mediaevals make their own entertainment

Evenings are given over to entertainment. This was a magical experience with free archery lessons, jesters, jousting knights and a host of challenging activities such as plate-spinning and diabolo. We met Archie, the Harris hawk and a fierce little owl (that’s what the type is called; they only grow up to about 5 ounces in weight). This little chap certainly had small owl syndrome as he snapped at his handler’s finger. The site was full of knights, both male and female, princesses and parents finding their inner heroes. The walkways were treacherous with dads and kids staging mock fights with foam swords.

Food and facilities

The package (prices vary but discounts for early booking online) comes with two days’ free entry to the castle – VIP entry so no queuing -– and an all you can eat breakfast in the mediaeval banqueting hall where knights and princesses can turn peasant for a spell to make their own pancakes. Dinner is not included but is available in three sittings and, if your knight or princess is a little less adventurous on the food front than on the battlefield, don’t worry. Ye olde mediaeval baked beans, pasta and chicken goujons will feel comfortably familiar.

For wary campers with memories of primitive latrines, put your fears to rest. Toilets and showers are excellent with piped ceremonial music to give even the most mundane activities a sense of occasion.

Trebuchet in action

The true magic of glamping

As the fairy lights strung between the trees lit up the twilight, official entertainment over, the site was full of children with torches, exploring, making friends and reluctant to give up on the magic of the day.

When we finally got to bed (you have to let the kids dictate the time for this) it was the most comfortable night’s camping I can remember -– and waking to the dawn chorus wasn’t bad either.

Bella was reluctant to leave her princess tent and playing in the trees with her new found friends but there was a castle to visit. A short walk across a field by the lake took us past the enormous trebuchet mediaeval war machine (we would return later to watch it shoot its fireball 150 metres through the air) and down to a new attraction…

The Horrible Histories Maze.

Based on an ingenious idea that an evil necromancer, Rattus Rattus, has messed up time, it houses different period attractions placed randomly within its hedged walls. We managed to locate WW1, some Slimy Stewarts, the odd Terrible Tudor and a hoard of Vicious Vikings on a ship.

State rooms and towers

Next was a visit to the State Rooms and, again we were impressed by how Warwick Castle makes history hands on. No stuffy roped off tables and intimidating guards. The kids can pick up realistic looking food and drink and “interact” with the waxwork figures as they listen to voice-over imagined conversations between them. The figures are fantastic, with great facial expressions and realistic postures. Bella, initially a little wary asked: “Were they real once?” Someone has had a lot of fun putting this together.

The Time Tower is a similarly ingenious way of giving a potted history of the castle with movement from room to room, CGI figures of actors who move from picture frame to frame and an inscrutable time-travelling raven who takes us in 15 minutes from the early Saxons to the present day.

Again there are numerous activities, from archery to jousting but our favourite was the eagle and vulture show… 

Eagles and Vultures

Warwick is famous for its birds of prey, and rightly so. The shows are not your usual “park your hawk on a stump and get it to fly to the glove for a hunk of meat”. These birds fly loose all over the castle and into the nearby woods before swooping down over the watching crowds.

To see Archie, the bald eagle, circle the castle towers and ride a thermal to be carried effortlessly aloft was wonderful. The speed and dexterity of the smaller Chilean eagle showed just how useful such birds were to their handlers when families relied on them to bring home the rabbit or pigeon to add variety to the turnips in the pot.

Lammergeier vulture swooping over the Castle crowds

The final bird we saw fly was the rare (because nearly hunted to extinction) lammergeier vulture – not a bird of prey but a carrion eater which lives entirely on bones. Check this one out. They’re incredible creatures who can swallow bones whole and drop skulls from a great height to break them into manageable pieces.

Back to the Knight’s Village to bid goodbye to our princess tent and the two mallards who had waddled purposefully around it. It had been a great experience – made more memorable by the excellent staff who taught us archery and plate-spinning. To work at Warwick, you have to be in touch with your inner child and it’s catching. Parents were visibly throwing aside their inhibitions to enter into the fun of the place. We were sad to leave but Bella hasn’t stopped talking about it.

 

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