A collective of bibliophiles talking about books. Book Fox (vulpes libris): small bibliovorous mammal of overactive imagination and uncommonly large bookshop expenses. Habitat: anywhere the rustle of pages can be heard.
Eilean Donan Castle. Definitely stable, certainly strong.
Well, what a week for British politics. But let’s not go down that inviting leafy trail where arguments will soon break out about who gave out the wrong directions and recriminations about picnic rugs and Scotch eggs will echo to the tops of the trees, scaring the kites and crows as they hover above us on sunny June thermals, hoping to scavenge among the abandoned sandwiches and broken meats. No, let us revisit the past, as we see it in our present, in the form of castles. Strong, stable castles that never budge, withstand all attacks, tower menacingly over the marauding invaders fluttering their banners of red, yellow and green, and shelter a grateful population in a sensible feudal economy of might equalling right. Magical money trees decorate the landscape with regularly spaced showers of gold for the well-fed, well-housed knights and lords of the shires, and are nurtured by harassed peasants anxious about their old mum’s bad leg without a decent healer for miles …. [OK, that’s enough. Ed.]
Ahem. We are delighted to welcome a guest reviewer to contribute to this week’s selection of remarks about castles for your entertainment.
Monday 12 June: Our guest reviewer recalls a visit with a twist to Longleat House, in Wiltshire, a magnificent mansion that in any other country would be called a chateau.
Wednesday 14 June: Moira admits to having developed a bit of a schoolgirl crush on Drumlanrig Castle’s most remarkable occupant.
Friday 16 June: Jackie finds Peter Robert’s Great Castles is more than just a pretty coffee table book.
Photo of Eilean Donan Castle used with a Creative Commons licence.
It certainly wasn’t *enough* for me. 🙂
Quite coincidentally, there is a study day, to be held in Southampton on the 19th of June: Strong-hold: Castle walls and female spaces in literature since medieval times. It accompanies an exhibition in the city’s art gallery entitled Capture the Castle.
I wish I had been able to give you more notice!