We slept through the night! Yvonne says it was the best sleep she has had in years! The day offered blue skies and cool temperatures, which we love.

The day started with a traditional English breakfast which consists of egg, back bacon, sausage (called a banger), grilled mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. Surprisingly there were no baked beans or black pudding (blood sausage) served as part of the meal offered here at the hotel. I seem to recall that they are normally part of the dish. Anyway there was more than enough to eat; neither of us could finish it.

Our goal for the day was to visit the ruins of Corfe Castle, now part of the English National Trust. What we quickly realized was how much larger the site is compared to what it looks like from a distance and as seen in most photos.

Trivia for the day. The name Corfe (pronounced “Korf “) is an Anglo Saxon word meaning gap or cutting. Millions of years ago rivers carved valleys through the local landscape, giving the area its name.

As I mentioned earlier Corfe Castle was originally started by William the Conqueror, the first Norman king, in the late 11th century. Others added to it and it remained one of the major English fortresses until the 17th century when it was sold to Sir John Bankes in 1635.  Civil war broke out in England in 1642 and in 1646 the castle was partially destroyed by Parliamentary troops. The castle was so strong they were unable to totally destroy it and what we see today is what remained after that event.

When you enter the castle area you quickly learn that it is much larger than what appears when you view it from a distance. The “keep” ( tallest part remaining) is actually 80 feet tall with walls that often were 10 feet thick. It was stout!

The castle is a popular tourist attraction and we saw a lot of families exploring the site even though it was a weekday. There was a series of tents located on the grounds featuring people acting out what life was like in 17th century times, including a doctor, a cook, armor maker, stone worker, gunsmith and a garrison soldier. It was intriguing talking to them and learning more about the knowledge and technology of the times.

After several hours we retreated to our room to rest our feet (and eyes). 3PM found us having our daily ration of Dorset Cream Tea. We have been told that only strawberry jam is acceptable but it is optional as to whether you put the jam on the biscuit first or the clotted cream.  Experimenting showed us that putting the clotted cream on first is much easier as it was difficult getting the cream to stick to the jam!

At 5:20PM we joined the wedding party for a 20 minute ride on the old fashioned steam train from Corfe Castle to Swanage, a distance of about 6.4 miles. The train meanders through the countryside past pastures housing llamas, sheep and dairy cattle.  Rather than exploring Swanage we chose to take the return train to Corfe Castle and have dinner at our hotel.

Dinner there proved to be a lovely event. You start by sitting in the “oversized” living room where the staff takes drink orders and shows you the dinner menu. You select your dinner and when it is ready you are taken to your table in the dining room where you are served. It was a lovely approach to having dinner. And furthermore the dinner was excellent.

Tomorrow is the wedding and associated planned activities. I will not tell you what they are until then.