Bolton Castle, or Kelly's Life is Now Complete!!

The views on the way from Thirsk to Bolton Castle...

OMG!!! A real Castle!

This was a picture from the kitchen.  It was so dark and dreary, and cold.  The interesting part is in the foreground of this picture.  That stone platform with the little lip and the hole in the corner is the sink!  The hole drains out the castle wall, and I guess they would have had a basin to wash the dishes in...so cool!

They had a Bird of Prey show every day, and this owl was pretty well trained, or so we thought, until the end when he flew away and wouldn't come back!

Indoor plumbing! I counted 5 loos in the castle, each drained to the outside.  Just don't stand too close to the wall!

Fire and rot has taken away the wooden floors in this part of the castle, but you could see the windows and even the fireplaces all the way up...

Views from the stairs...

The font in the chapel is still in incredibly fantastic shape considering it was made in 1300...

Part of the Lordship's chambers...

The view from the top of the battlements...

It was incredibly windy up there, but I really never wanted to come down again...

William tried on the chain mail...it was SO heavy!  I really had to work to get it on him!

The view of the castle from the garden...

I have always, always wanted to go to a real castle, so this was the best part of the trip for me.  It was colder and damper than I expected, but it felt pretty much like I thought it would.  Mary Queen of Scots was held "prisoner" here for 6 months, along with 61 servants.  Not too tough if you ask me.  The views were so amazing, and I noticed that they were doing performances of Macbeth here.  I can't imagine a better place to see that show!  The dungeon was scary as hell!  It was called a "bottle dungeon" and was basically a 30 foot long tube and they lowered you food and water from the top occasionally. It looked horrible, and I didn't take pictures because I have no desire to remember it!  All in all it was incredible and fullfilled all my castle needs for my lifetime.  I would love to go again someday though!