England In Photos: Cumbria - Part IV - Brough Castle

Brough Castle, located in Brough, Cumbria, England, is a castle built on the ruins of an old Roman Fort (Fort of Vertris). It is one of England's first stone castles and was built in the 1090's. It was rebuilt in the 1180's after an attack of England by William the Lion, a Scottish King, when all but it's keep (the most protected part of the castle) was destroyed. The castle has been handed down to one other owner before passing to the Clifford family who occupied the castle from 1268-1521 until the castle was ruined by a fire. After 140 years Lady Anne Clifford  and came under the protection of the Ministry of Works since 1920's.

We visited the castle twice in the same day, so some pictures are darker than others. It was an amazing thing, and the first castle we have been inside.  Castles are fantastic, and interesting to us. To learn something interesting about castle washroom/toilets make sure you take a look at the final picture in this entry.

Brough Castle ruins, taken March 18, 2012 by us.

From the inside looking out

Stainmore Pass, view from the remains of the kitchen of Brough Castle

Part of the square keep of the castle ruins

What we can only assume this is the remains of the garderobe (a medieval castle washroom)
A square room fitted with a stone or wooden bench, sometimes up to as many as 4-6 hole in it.
The chutes (the square holes you see) of the garderobe provided an exit for waste which often led
to the castle moat, or grounds.
A 'garderobe' is also the name for a cloakroom/wardrobe, even for the clothing of guest clothing
(which in some cases doubled as the washroom) because they believed that that ammonia
from the waste protected clothing from moths, lice and other community spread insects/bugs.

More info on Brough Castle: http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/brough-castle.htm

Countdown: Three Days

We can probably browse through http://www.enjoyengland.com/ now and find out what exciting things there are to do and see in England. We actually haven't, which is bizarre.

We always wonder what people imagine when they think of England, particularly the ones who have never been there.
Probably tea, poor dental hygiene, and the Queen. Right?
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) the British actually has the healthiest teeth in the world. IN THE WORLD.

Source: http://www.economist.com/node/15060097?subjectid=7933596&story_id=15060097

Amazing, right? So how about that. (For an expanded interesting read on that, and four other National stereotypes read:'The 5 Most Statistically Full of Shit National Stereotypes' http://www.cracked.com/article_18409_the-5-most-statistically-full-shit-national-stereotypes.html)

But we're still left with the Queen. Queen Elizabeth, who was crowned queen 53 years ago yesterday. God Save The Queen. Something.

Honestly, we're not interested in her, not interested in British Royalty at all, it's mostly symbolic anyway, and they are just people born into privilege - with some fucked up, excuse our language, history. About four hundred years ago they ruled that the government can overrule the monarchy, and they became a democratic country.

So, in the meantime, tea and the Queen, because you can't dispute the importance of tea to a Brit.

Oh, and you must'nt forget...The Monty Python (a fantastic British Sketch Comedy troupe)

Responsible for such awesome films as The Life of Brian. Here's a sample!

Sixteen Day Countdown, Packing

Warning: Ramble

Less than days before we get on a plane to England.

We're nervous, excited, apprehensive...and anxious to start packing.

But what to pack when we're planning on traveling while in Europe.

The weather in January in Britain, on average, is 8.4 C-11 C (48 F-52 F), but then we want to go to Spain and France too, so what does that mean for packing?

We're planning on going to Dublin (Southern Ireland) and Glasgow, Scotland, but we figure the weather is similar since it's less than 500 miles from the southern most tip of Portsmouth, Britain to Glasgow (or Edinburgh), Scotland, and from the looks of the map it's where more dense population gives way to wilderness and scattered habitation.

Back to packing...

In case you didn't know, we're a girl...meaning shoes, dresses, jeans, sweaters, t-shirts, skirts, tights, sweater-dresses...not to mention toiletries and jackets. Luckily we don't use curling irons, hair dryers, or hairsprays, that'll lighten the load.

Things to consider when packing...how many bags are  allowed? Some airlines only allow one checked, and two small carry-ons. What is the maximum amount the luggage can weight for each airline you're booked on? When James flew in he used two different airlines and managed to sweet talk them into making allowances for his luggage weight, but it could have cost him nearly $100 for overage weight (must be the accent).

How does one go about packing for three months in a foreign country?!

Yes, we're rambling...

Fun Facts: Geography
(not everyone knows this, trust us...okay, and it might not be your idea of "fun"):
This is the actual flag of England:

The other flag, the Union Flag, often inaccurately referred to as the Union Jack (up at the top left of this entry), is the flag of The United Kingdom.

The UK (United Kingdom) is made of of the following countries: Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England. (Dublin is part of Southern Ireland, Belfast is part of Northern Ireland)
Britain (or Great Britain) is the name of the island that makes up the political union of Scotland, England and Wales.

While we are going to be in Britain, we will be spending the majority of our time in Southeast England, outside of London (the capital of England), less than an hour from the North Sea.

England is only 500 miles long! The entire square mileage of England is bigger than Utah, but smaller than Oregon. (94,500 square miles).
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Why are we writing about this?
It's how we learn, and a place to keep the info we want to remember; and we love to learn about the world.
Our favorite part of social sciences in school was when we studied other countries, though on average we have forgotten the majority of what we've learned. The best way to learn about a country is to plan a trip and go there.

Promise, once we start writing about our travels there it'll be more interesting. Okay, so we don't promise...