We visited two castles on this trip late last 2006. This one is Sudeley Castle and was the home of one of King Henry VIII's wives. It is privately owned so we were unable to tour the inside, but had a good look around the gardens and a costume museum on site. The costume museum showed replica costumes from the era associated with King Henry VIII and was very interesting!

One of the previous owners was very into collecting all kinds of birds, mainly pheasant. This is part of an extensive pheasantry which is still stocked with a huge variety of them, including one pheasant that was running about loose. We didn't know pheasant could be so fabulously feathered and come in all shapes and sizes!

Part of the original castle, this ruin of the banqueting hall is attached to one side of the castle and is now a garden wall.

Sudeley has a lovely knot garden, as shown here. The fountain in the middle is mosaic tiled and this gave it a very middle-eastern feel.

Another ruin on site at Sudeley is the Tithe Barn, which was probably used to store 'taxes' from the land.

When we visited, there was an exhibition of sculpture and art. Here is one that was interesting and quite large (taller than Rod)!!

We drove through the Forest of Dean and also down through the eastern side of Wales on our trip. Near the border is Caldicot Castle which we also visited briefly. This photo shows the main entrance.

Surrounding Caldicot Castle were lovely big trees. I though this single autumn leaf on an otherwise green tree was worth a shot!

Caldicot is more like a fort than a castle, with probably about an acre of ground within the walls, which were surrounded by a wide moat. Here you can see the castle keep.