Still finding it difficult to finish painting figures at the moment, preparing lots, a world of plastic conversions! Napoleonic Hungarians and Grenzers, Westphalians for 1809, Austrian dragoons, hussars and uhlans so fun but no finished product. I have spent the summer working in Wales which is stuffed with castles but I only went to two, one of which I failed to take photos of and another I walked through to go and get a coffee at the weekend when my wife came down to Cardiff. Caerphilly castle is the second biggest castle in the UK after Windsor and I got to go there for the first time since March 1st, 1979, I happily climbed all over the castle as a pre teen child on my own as health and safety was something that largely didn't apply much in those days, my dad was working in the area so I had to tag along which in the quid pro quo meant I got to go to a castle. It's enormous with a moat and concentric walls and lots of towers including one that's at a mad angle which is supposed to be after it was slighted by team Cromwell, either that or lousy foundations?
It's a great big monolithic lump with only the windows and doors dressed masonry. It survived a few sieges but the same family owned Cardiff castle and once it wasn't in the front line after Edward's conquest of Wales it fell into decline and a lot of what we see is late nineteenth/ early twentieth century reconstruction but definitely one of my favourite castles.
The other castle is Cardiff castle which is in the centre of the city and was nice to wander through it to get a coffee, more reconstructed Roman walls around the outside, paid for by the same family who funded Caerphilly and lived in the other castle we visited, castle Coch, which they pretty much entirely rebuilt and I haven't got any photos of , the keep on top of the motte is still original .
Other than that lots of prep, but I will finish painting some stuff sometime!
All the best,
Iain
That is a pretty impressive castle! I remember going to Corfe castle as a kid and being mightily impressed by that, ditto one on a school filed trip in the Peak District. Years since I've been to one though, so must try and make amends...
ReplyDeleteGreat photo's of the castle Iain, really must go there someday, especially as it's not that far away. Prep work may not be a standout like a finished unit, but is just as important, and all the prep work will benefit in the long run.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful place sir!
ReplyDeleteSome really nice castle pictures. I do like pics of real castles. 😀
ReplyDeleteVery impressive castle, some great photos of it, very interesting read.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy these posts, I find them enormously educational and interesting. What a huge castle, I'm amazed! Pretty cool, thanks for sharing the pics, I love them
ReplyDeleteLovely pics mate. You can’t move in wales without tripping over a ruddy castle. There was even one in our (pre France) village of Cilgerran.
ReplyDeleteLooks mighty impressive!
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I saw the post it reminded me of the trips to Wales with my father on his work trips in the early seventies. We would always find time to visit a castle on these days as well, and it was on one of these outings that he bought me my first packet of Airfix soldiers. I wonder how many other young boys had a similar experience.
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