Bamburgh Castle: On the North Sea

It was a bit like visiting a sort of Cair Paravel.

 Family antiquities in the first few rooms...

 

 This was my favorite room... Excellent for some quite study. Elegant, but simple. Antiquated, but comfortable.

 Entering the great hall...

 The front sitting room, as viewed from the great hall...

 Side panels of the great hall...

And a flavor of the Vaudevillian America in this fairy-tale castle... Proof that even great lords enjoyed our old-time sense of humor and honky-tonk rhythm once we had invented it!

 Using my telephoto effects lens for some closeups...

 Merrie Olde England

The gaming room; probably Edwardian from the light-fixtures. This room reminded my of 205 N. Borders, Marissa, Illinois (some of you will remember).

 The fire-place in the game-room...

 "They had many squires and ladies with them and all wore garlands of fresh leaves on their heads and horns at their sides; but they had no hounds with them, for they were maying, not hunting."

 Where's the fife? The drummers look good though.

 Here's to the old Brown Bess! I was probably the only visitor that day who had wielded this weapon before...

  If only our fife and drum corps could play that drum!

The nearest two swords are fashioned in my favorite sword style (came in about 16th century). Broad enough for an occasional slash, but elegant enough to play at the earliest rules of rapier fighting. Personally (although this was a source of some debate with one of my friends), I prefer the dawn of gentility (16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries) over the golden age of chivalry.

 

 I actually sat in the throne.

 A afternoon cup of camomile at the Coffer Kettle.