This past weekend, we went to Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire to see the Elizabethan Days demonstrations and events. Kenilworth Castle was given to Lord Dudley by Queen Elizabeth for services to the crown (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, innuendo). The castle itself is still in pretty decent shape though it was partly destroyed after the civil war. The grounds are nice and each site has a signpost explaining what part of the castle you're standing in.
Lord Dudley had this building built for Queen Elizabeth when she came to visit.
We saw a demonstration of falconry which is where they used birds for hunting. We saw a couple of falcons, a hawk, and an owl run through their paces. The falcons and the hawk are very impressive to watch flying. Point of interest, the owl would be used as a decoy for hunting. That is because other birds would swarm it in order to drive it off. Then the falcon or hawk would swoop in and grab one of those birds. So that is why whenever someone puts up a fake owl to scare off pigeons, it ends up being covered in bird waste.
We also saw a sword fighting demonstration as well as a couple of demonstrations of horsemanship.
Whenever you go to one of these castles, you can buy the kids wooden swords and the like. And of course they spend the day running around hitting each other. Like, duh.
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