English Castle October 1, 2017
After three days of walking, Bruce & I took a "rest day". We were staying at another lovely Airbnb, this one in Winchcombe. (We have had such good luck with Airbnb's in England. They are very high quality!)
We needed a day to relax a bit, to do some laundry and to read. One thing about Airbnb, however, is the feeling that hosts don't really want you hanging around their house all day. So, we set out to explore a bit and ended up visiting a castle!
Sudeley Castle is located on the edge of town. It is privately owned and is maintained as a residence, which is unusual. Probably its most unusual feature, however, is the fact that it's the only private property where a British queen is buried. Henry VIII's last queen, Catherine Parr, outlived him. When she died in 1548, she was buried at Sudeley, her home at the time, and she is entombed in the chapel on the castle grounds in a properly ornate corner.
There are many other royal connections at Sudeley, both ancient and modern, explained in the wide range of artifacts on display in the museum part of the castle. One of Catherine's predecessors, Anne Boleyn, had visited the castle with Henry (before he ordered her to be decapitated!). Their daughter, later to become Elizabeth I, spent time there with Catherine, her step-mother. Apparently Elizabeth got too cozy with Catherine's new husband and was banished from the castle.
King Richard III, subject of Shakespeare's play, owned the castle at one point.
Over the years, the castle fell on hard times. The Civil War in the 1600's didn't help. Much of the estate was demolished. In the last century, the castle was used as a hospital during WW I. Around 1970, it was inherited by a British aristocrat and his American wife. The story reminded me of Downton Abbey and Lady Cora Crawley, also an American who married into British aristocracy. In typical American enthusiasm, the new lady of the house tuned in to the public's curiosity of this way of life and developed part of the castle as a museum, while also opening up some of the private quarters. Weddings and events take place there, too, and it all helps to pay the maintenance bills, I'm sure.
One of the quirky features that I especially enjoyed was a display telling the story of Brock, the current family's pet badger, back in the 1960's & 1970's. Apparently, the dad in the family, Mark Dent-Brocklehurst, loved surrounding himself with various critters, even though the family lived in the London section of Kensington. One day he brought home a baby badger, which grew up with the two children in the nursery. The nanny would take the children out to the park - and Brock along with them. Over time, Brock got bigger and bigger - just like the kids, except that Brock took on his nocturnal behavior, as well as nipping with his sharp teeth at the ankles of unsuspecting guests! Finally, Brock was taken to Sudeley to live out the rest of his days.
Being Americans ourselves, we seem to have a fascination with this life of class privilege, stretching back for centuries. Visiting Sudeley Castle was a lovely way to learn more about it.
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