Today was about 23 degrees and mostly sunny, so we all actually got a little burnt being outdoors all day. The plan was always to go to Warwick Castle, as we’d already booked tickets for this day, however we decided to explore a a couple more Cotswolds towns en-route.

After setting out the door at 8.45am with packed lunch again in tow, we headed for Morton in Marsh, another cute town about half an hour north of our Great Rissington base. We drove around briefly but didn’t stop, and this time aimed for Chipping Campden.

It’s so hard to describe the beauty of some of these towns – there’s no way I can do it justice in either in print or with photographs or even video footage. But think of a main street with an unbroken terrace on both sides, made up of heritage buildings, dating from the brick and timber medieval era (earliest was 1380!) through to limestone Georgian properties. The terrace consists of homes, cafes, pubs, businesses; an eclectic mix with no mess or graffiti and limited advertising - just an ascetic delight for us outsiders to wander and enjoy.

We did stop here for an hour, exploring the main street and eventually stopped at a classy café for coffee and hot chocolates, although Annie went for a Pain au Chocolate instead. Whilst we were dining, the owner introduced us to a 2016 Olympic gold medal winner – Englishman Matt Gotrel who won the men’s eight rowing. Zach and Annie were pretty excited to have a hold of his medal and pose with him for a photo.

It was after 11am before we left for Warwick Castle, and it took us an hour to get there as we made a slight detour. When we were only five minutes away, we managed to get wedged in between two trucks in the left lane of a two lane roundabout and ended up being forced out the first roundabout exit, which just happened to be a major freeway with no off-ramp for another 15kms! With stress levels high, we finally made our way into the castle car-park about forty minutes later, and then began the twenty minute walk to the castle itself.

Whilst the kids had lots of fun, I experienced some mixed emotions, and Amelia didn’t really enjoy it much at all. There were some really good bits. The 389-step walk up steep, narrow, winding staircases in the castles towers, opening up to the top of the turrets was exceptional, offering amazing views of the surrounding countryside. The fully furnished state rooms were similarly impressive, with shiny suites of armour, colourful tapestries, huge paintings, ornate crockery and beautifully carved wooden furniture.

A couple of the outdoor shows were great, including an impressive aerial display of bald and golden eagles swooping to catch meat tossed high. Also the priming and subsequent firing of a medieval catapult reminded me of battle scenes from Lord of the Rings. The jousting tournament was worth a look also and the maze was okay, but the rest was a bit tacky. The place was packed, there were plenty of crowded shops selling overpriced merchandise, there were lots of “extra charge” events (including charging for attempts with a bow and arrow) which was a bit rich considering the steep entry price.

The long drive home was made longer by overtired kids, and whilst I’m glad we’ve ticked the box, we’re looking forward to a quieter last couple of days in the Cotswolds.