Corfe Castle is one of the most impressive castles in all of Europe - except we arrived 400 years late to see it. Sadly it is in ruins. Over and over we've seen these incredible strongholds, placed in perfect defensive positions, castles that withstood many attacks, always, always were betrayed by someone inside. The picture above is taken from the train station in the town below the castle. The town is served by a restored steam locomotive that we rode to Swanage beach.
But nearby in the village, a craftsman painstakingly recreated the castle and surrounding village as it would have looked 400 years ago. So you get a sense of how amazing this thing would have been. An outrageous modeling job. The little church has bells that ring and a choir that sings - or at least that is the way it sounds. The houses have people in their courtyards, and sheep and cattle in their fields. And notice the little trees - they appear (without exhaustive scientific testing) to be real. They must be groomed like bonzai trees.
The center shot is cool because you see the kids in front of the model, and behind the model in the distance on the left you can see some of the actual remaining castle walls. We are probably a mile from the ruins, so you get a sense of how huge the thing was.
Amanda and I played a game of giant checkers. I kicked her butt - however, impartial observers might say that it was a draw because we gave up the game before I actually kicked her butt. (now I will find out if she reads the blog)
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