Medieval knights at Tutbury Castle

Last weekend we went to Tutbury Castle as they had a knights in Armour weekend.

Tutbury Castle is not very far away from where we live, and as a child I grew up just a stones throw away from the castle, as such I remember many many summer days walking upto the Castle to have a picnic.

Back then there was no one who lived there, and no entrance fees, when we visited as children it was just a public place to explore and roll down the banks and climb up the towers.

In the year 2000 however, Tutbury castle was curated by Lesley Smith, and since then the castle hosts alot more events, and now has an entrance fee if you wish to visit.

Living so close by to the castle and spending such alot of time there in my childhood, its surprising really that we don't visit it more often, infact we had never attended an event there with the children, so when I saw the Knights in Armour would be there at the weekend we decided to go along and have a look.

The weather did its best to put us off, with it pouring with rain constantly, at one point we almost decided against braving the elements, but I am so pleased that we did indeed go along as it was such a fun day out.

The castle, although mostly ruined, is a great site. which such a lot of historical facts to learn, a intresting place to be and a brilliant way to add a touch of history to a family day out.

The grounds are quite big, lots of open space to run about, Dungens to explore and several towers still standing enough for you to climb up, and look out from the top to admire the views.

The Grand hall has a nice display and the children loved being able to hold a real executioners sword.

There is a small gift shop and tea room as well,all very reasonably priced, the boys brought plastic swords for £2.50 each and Chloe picked out a necklace for £2

But the highlight of the day has to be the Knights and Reenactors who really did an amazing job and transported you back to the 14th century with their living history display.

There were music makers who happily talked to the children, taught them songs and showed them how to play instruments from medieval times.

Peasants in their tents with their log burners and of course the Knights in armour.

The knights from the 14th century Alliance, put on a truly great show dressed in authentic medieval costumes they all were very friendly and accommodating, they encouraged the children to join in with them and talked about their weapons and armour.

Due to the bad weather the birds of prey were kept inside all except a lovely Owl, it had said on the website that there would be a chance at Archery too, but again due to the weather this was not available.

But despite the bad weather the grand melee with the knights having a battle was certainly worth standing in the rain to see, with all the knights battling it out to be crowned the overall winner.

Then all the knights took the time to stand and talk to the children and have their photos taken.

 If you are ever wondering about a good day out for the whole family, then do check out Tutbury Castle, and see if they have any events scheduled there, even in the rain we had such fun.

This is NOT a sponsored post, we went along and paid for the tickets ourselves and I'm sharing as I love the photos and the knights were amazing.