Disappointment

Did you all have a good weekend?

The weather was a little hit and miss wasn't it?

Did you get upto anything exciting?

Yesterday we decided to pay a visit to Warwick Castle. 

Apparently it's Britain's ultimate castle - I'd prefer to say ' Britain's most expensive castle'.

The other half and I had already paid this great place a visit pre-Violet, and really enjoyed it.  So when we came across a 2 for 1 voucher we thought it would make a great destination for a clan outing. 

It's only about 20 minutes journey away, so no hardship there.

On arrival the first thing we noticed, and which we thought was a little cheeky, was the parking charge.  You have to pay £4.00 (per car) on top of your entry ticket price. 

Not only did we have to pay for the priviledge to park, but then had a 20 minute walk to even get to the entrance.

Lucky for us that we had the 2 for 1 voucher, because we would have had to pay a King's ransom to gain entrance otherwise.

As you can imagine, it was extremely busy, what with it being a Sunday and the School Holidays.

It was all very exciting for Violet, who just wanted to run off at every opportunity. 

Feeling a little bit peckish I decided I'd try a Roast Hog Sandwich (£4.50) - So expensive and so not worth the money, as it totally lacked any taste.

Violet then wanted an ice cream.  £1.80 for one scoop in a cone.  Now, I wouldn't have minded this fact, except that they'd obviously whipped the stuff to within an inch of it's life, so it was more air than actual ice cream. 

Next we took Violet into the Princess Tower - basically you get a timed ticket, sit in a stuffy room for 15 minutes whilst the little ones have a little story, then you go into another room where they can dress up as a princess or a knight.  After much pushing and shoving by 'the little princesses' and their mothers, you have a photo taken, then you're whisked off into the gift shop to collect said photograph.  Violet's turned out really well, but at £5.00, it was far too expensive. 

There were lots of activities to keep the older children amused.  I noticed a signpost for Archery at £5.00 for six arrows.

Fankly, I was very disappointed in the place.  Everything seemed very overpriced, so in my book, that doesn't make it very family friendly.  This sounds odd, I know, because the whole place is geared up for families.  If that family has pots, and pots of money that is. 

Sadly, we left after only a couple of hours.

I wish we'd gone to the 'Around the World and back home for tea' event, which was being held at Packwood House - at least that would have been free because we're NT members, Violet could have run her legs off in the stunning grounds, and we could have enjoyed a nice slice of cake on the lawn for less than a fiver.

Rant over.