I am in the early phases of putting together a family trip to England and Wales this summer. I would really like to go to see some of the activities they have at Warwick Castle - like jousting and birds of prey, but don't really want to go to the castle itself. I am hoping that some of you will have alternative locations where I can find these kind of activities as I think we would really enjoy them. I know there are some other castles which have medival festivals during early July, but don't know which ones.

The kids will be 11 and 13 at that time, and we will have two weeks outside of London with a car to travel around.

I am hoping to keep the trip south of the Yorkshire Dales, and including SW Wales, but nothing is booked so I can be talked into changing my geographical confines.

Any suggestions are welcomed. Thanks.

What's wrong with going to the actual Warwick Castle? I think it is super .. has all the bells & whistles ... when I was there we saw tons of kids that age really having a great time ... dungeons, parapets, wax figures from Mme Tussaud making the various living areas "come alive." Sure, it's a show, but based on real happenings.

Next to The Tower of London, I can't think of a castle with much more history than Warwick. Those people seemed to stick their noses into everything and usually ended-up on the short end of the stick.

They sometimes do falconry/jousting at Kenilworth.

But mainly - the places you are going to see those sorts of things are at castles and stately homes. So you'll pretty much have to 'go to a castle'.

What you'll have to do is check the websites of each place you are considering against the dates of your trip. They just about ALL do these sorts of displays, just not every day/weekend. More as special events. So to find one (besides Warwick which has Falconers and jousters actually on the payroll) you'll have to do a bit of research.

We will definitely go see quite a few castles (and castle ruins). It's not that I wanted to avoid seeing castles, I just wanted to avoid Warwick based on a number of comments I have read about it being crowded and over the top. It is also quite expensive (to me). I thought we could get the castle experience and the jousting/birds of prey separately.

I did look up one or two places that I had read along the way had medieval festivals, but the dates were not out for next summer. I was hoping I would get a couple of ideas here for good alternatives, and then keep checking back for their 2010 dates.

You can go to Warwick, tour the castle, and watch jousting, falconry, etc. without paying extra for things like the new dungeon tour. It was busy when we were there in May 2007 (bank holiday weekend), but not overly crowded.

In addition, if you are planning to buy a Great British Heritage Pass for your family, Warwick is one of the properties included in the price of the pass.

Lee Ann

dsefinitely - if you plan on seeing several places, get the GBHP. Then Warwick will be 'free' as will be most any other castle/stately home/garden. (totally included in the cost of the Pass, w/ the exception of some special exhibitions)

They now do a Family GBHP that will save you a lot of money.

I was just looking into the Great British Heritage Pass having read Lee Ann's post. It seems like a good idea, and covers many of the sites I was thinking of. Somehow I thought there was only the English Heritage Pass and the National Trust pass.

Thank you all.

The benefit of the GBHP is that even though it does cost more, it covers all National Trust properties, all English Heritage places, all CADW places in Wales, Nat'l Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland properties -- plus MANY privately owned places like Warwick, Blenheim, Chatsworth etc etc.

So it is usually a better deal than the English Heritage, National Trust or Royal Oak passes.

Um, if you want a place with all of these midievel activities you're going to have to go to a place with "flash" - the more "legitimate" places won;t have these no longer popular activities.

There are a lot of legitimate castles (starting with the Tower of London and Windsor Castle) - but they won;t have all these festival activities that you're looking for.

Falconry displays are a standard part of many summertime festivals, free and paid-for, from mega, several-day, county shows to village sustainability afternoons. There are also a number of falconry centres around the country. Any summer weekend in England, you're unlikely to be more than 30 miles from somewhere showing off birds of prey. Just google falconry, or set your children the project of googling out falconry stuff close to your itinerary.

Jousting's tougher. Some stately homes (like Hever, Heddingham, and Leeds castles and Knebworth House) have occasional jousting stunts, and there are a number of specialist jousting companies organising public events. Winships now have a dedicated indoor jousting arena in Brockenhurst, in the New Forest, with displays throughout the summer (www.medievaljousting.com) Again, it shouldn't be impossible to find jousting somewhere near your itinerary, though it's a great deal rarer than hawking.

But set the kids onto it.

In July there is a Jousting Festival/Tournament held at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

http://www.berkeley-castle.com/index.php

and flanner has given you a good website above in medievaljousting.com

>>>The kids will be 11 and 13 at that time<<<

Frankly said, I cannot imagine a better place for your kids than Warwick Castle.

It is right, Warwick Castle IS touristy and IS disneyfied (in fact, tussaudfied), but it is a gorgeous building and both the building and the activities will fascinate your kids. Go there and plan to spend there at least three hours, better four.

BTW, we have been there on a sunny summer weekend and it was busy but not crowded. E.g. no waiting in lines like in Disneyland.

We've been to Warwick and don't feel the need to go back.

If you're thinking about SW Wales there are two great castles, Chepstow and Raglan, just across the border. You would have to specifically check their websites to see if there are festivals. In fact, you may have to contact them because after a quick check I didn't see anything. I know Raglan had a festival this summer, but I don't remember when it was.

We use a great website http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/ to find castles to visit. We prefer the less touristy disneyfied castles as well. In fact, we've found the free castles are most interesting for our little family. But, we prefer to run and jump and climb. Over the weekend we had Old Wardour Castle to ourselves and spent more than an hour playing hide and seek. Our son is 4 so not at the "enjoying exhibitions" stage. If you're hoping to see big events you will probably have to go to a more touristy castle.

Hi Poutine - Check out the Birds of Prey centre in Newent (- Gloucestershire) for flying displays:

http://www.icbp.org/index.html

For family events/days out a useful website is:
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.884

Hope this helps ...

Steve

What have you people got against my Uncle George and Auntie Jenny? (They're some of the waxworks at Warwick).

There are quite a few companies that will actually teach you falconry for a day - try Red Letter Days for an example.

When I was at Chepstow in September, there were no exhibits or displays or whatever about medieval life, knights, etc., that would help kids get a full picture of what they're seeing. There's just the castle itself, with information plaques explaining the various rooms.

I think I am just too early for the 2010 festival schedules. The plan is to spend 5 nights each in the areas of Swindon and Leeds (roughly), so I can hopefully find a festival close by. I will keep checking the websites mentioned above.

As I now plan to buy the GBHP, I will likely drop into Warwick as well.

I really like the look of the Birds of Prey experience, either through Red Letter Days or the centre mentioned in Newent. That would make for a very memorable day with my 13 year old. I would like to see them hunt too, but am not sure of my fence hopping abilities these days!

Thanks very much for your help.

The English heritage calender of summer events normally only comes out in early spring where all the EH events are listed.

I love the military reenactments - particularly the civil war armies, and the Romans (not normally together - although I did walk into a pub in Battle where there was a "200 years of military history" event, to find the bar surrounded by several Romans, a couple of Saxons, three roundheads, two members of a Napoleonic French Lancer regiment and some Nazis - I will always regret not having a camera with me).

You could combine the jousting in the New forest (see Flanner's link above) with a morning at the Hawk conservancy near Andover (http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/)

I fully understand those who are anti Warwick - wonderful castle but I hated the Disneyfication.

"If you're thinking about SW Wales there are two great castles, Chepstow and Raglan, just across the border."

You presumably mean south east Wales. In which case, don't forget Goodrich Castle (English Heritage) which is on a bluff overlooking the River Wye.

The problem with British castles is that they are either ruins, or have been lived in continuously and so have become more like country houses. We have not had battles involving castles in England and Wales since the seventeenth entury.