KitKat's Adventures: Jousting Day at Rockingham Castle!

If you ever get a chance to see the Knights of Nottingham, do it! They performed at the beautiful Rockingham Castle last weekend. In my own opinion, the Knights were much better than the ones we saw at Audley End. They involved the audience a lot more, getting them to cheer for the "goodies" and making them boo at the "baddies".

I thought he was going to spear me!!

Jousting!

As well as the impressive jousting on horseback, they also performed mock battles with an array of deadly weapons including swords, axes, pikes. There was another weapon and I'm not sure what it was called, but it really was deadly! It was a short stick with a chain attatched to one end and a heavy metal ball attached to the end of the chain. The knights swung it around wildly and it made a terrific clank when it hit the enemy's shield!

The Knights split into two teams of three for the games. The "goodies" were the Knights Of Nottingham and the "baddies" were Knights of Normandy. It was very entertaining to watch their rivalry, especially between the drunk knight from Nottingham and the evil Dark Knight from Normandy!

The "drunk" Knight. He spilled beer on everybody!

The Evil Black Knight. He played "dirty"

The castle was also very impressive. All of the castles I've been to are quite cold and unwelcoming, but this one was quite the opposite! The castle itself doesn't actually belong to the English Heritage or National Trust, it belongs to a family that live there. All around the castle, you can see photos of the family. It definitely gives the castle a homely feel! You aren't allowed to go into the part of the castle where the family live, but you can explore the rest of it. There are lots of beautifully furnished rooms filled wih interesting and unique treasures, some from the Roman times; there were keys and coins in a glass case. From the Tudor times, there was a letter signed by Henry VIII. My favourite was a beautiful, wooden sleigh but I don't know how old it was or where it came from. Unfortunately uoi couldn't take photos inside the Castle.
The castle has been owned by the same family for 900 years now. It was built in the 11th century when William the Conqueror came across from Normandy. Lots of famous and grand people have lived there over the centuries and their portraits hang on the walls of the Castle.
The Castle even has it's own chapel, St Leonards. It was very impressive!

Surrounding the castle, there are expansive, rose filled gardens. Seriously, there are roses everywhere! The gardens are incredibly pretty, I can't imagine how long it takes to keep them all that tidy. The gardeners must work very hard! Since I had my new phone with me, I just had to take random pictures of all the amazing, colourful flowers!