Rockingham around the clock

Josh takes on the castle

Sunday 29th May 2011

This whole area has history coming out of its nose. Everywhere you look you just come across a castle here or a stately home here. Team Shiltonpig rode their cachemobile straight to Rockingham Castle, and yet again we were here on the trail of treasure of the gold variety. Legend has it that King John in the 13th century lost his crown jewels in the Wash (see our blog from last year). However 100 years ago at Rockingham Castle, one of the owners held a seance and was told the treasures were buried in the moat of the castle. Team Shiltonpig wanted a piece

Stop looking! I'm on the toilet!

 of the action. Rockingham castle has some incredible views and must be one of the few places in the country where you can see 5 counties from the top...in true team Shiltonpig style can you name the 5? Another impressive piece of information is that the great hall in the castle saw 10 kings dine there...yes you read that right 10 whole kings. In another moment of awe this weekend, we dare you to wander in that room and not feel something special, imagine all the conversations that have gone in the past. Oh to be a fly on the wall! The guides in the house seemed to have taken a page out of Lyddington English Heritage guidebook. They only

Mr Shiltonpigs current favourite photo

had to see Josh and they would panic. Be careful of this and careful of that. We think some of these places need to remember that children (and most of the adults) want to look AND touch the objects. Anyway rant over you will be pleased to know. Whats that I hear you say? you want more history...well how about this Charles Dickens was also a regular visitor to the castle and actually used the castle as part of the story in the famous Bleak House. You can see his letters in the upstairs rooms. The Castle is still a living house, the lawn outside had 2 goal posts, a reminder that a teenage boy lives here. Its hard to comprehend growing up in

Romeo, Romeo where for art thou?

a castle compared to the lives Mr and Mrs Shiltonpig grew up with. The children are very fortunate. The gardens make for a nice walk and the guided tour helped make it even more interesting. It was here that we got to hear more about the crown jewels and the treasure. I am sorry to disappoint you but 100 years ago they digged and digged and digged to try and find the treasure but alas there was none. Although the guide did say...perhaps they didn't dig deep enough. They display what they did find in the castle itself, but you will have to visit to find out for yourself. So team Shiltonpig had to make do with the only treasure we will ever find,

Mr Shiltonpigs attempt at art photography

geocaches....and there were a couple nearby. At one of them after we had just arrived, a pushbike pulled up and a young Polish man gets off the bike, turns out we bumped into another geocacher! And its a good job we did bump into him because it took the 3 of us to find the cache after 10 minutes, and it was him that found it! He commented that in Poland they use opencaching.com rather than geocaching.com and that the caches are easier to find! Perhaps a trip to Poland is in order!!! So all in all a great visit to a lovely castle steeped in history and some nice caches in the area! Encourage you all to visit one day!