Merry Go Round

Last Friday a traditional merry go round arrived at the castle. Both the lorry and the carousel were quite heavy so it was set up on the lawn near the front drive. Luckily, thanks to the weather, the ground is still quite firm. After a certain amount of tinkering, the carousel with its flying horses was ready to test and many of the Highclere team were willing to offer themselves. Those not wishing to up and down and round and round on a horse could lie back in a sleigh. 

The golden age of carousels lasted from the 1870s to the early 1930s. They were made from wood, and were carved and painted by hand. Ours was a gorgeous bright gold.  There is something rather magical about climbing aboard and just going round in circles with as many others as you have managed to persuade to join in: it is a very uncomplicated pastime.
This past weekend has altogether been rather traditional in terms of entertainment. There was croquet and badminton to enjoy on the lawns, a dance and music tent with a chequerboard floor, scones, cakes, sandwiches, picnic afternoon boxes, vintage cars, a man now christened Lofty on stilts, Morris dancers with bells on their legs, an exhibition of dress and style threaded through the castle tour and a room devoted to Maggie Smith whilst outside there were cocktails and a chance to act in our own play.

With bunting and flowers everywhere, and guests who had made a wonderful effort to dress up in style and who all looked quite perfect, with hats and gloves and hairstyles courtesy of the Vintage Rollers who were based in the castle courtyard, it was all rather a wonderful day out.

 Some of us played Badminton and others croquet -  it became  a little competitive! But such fun. 

What I have not mentioned so far was the stately arrival of a Lego set of the castle which made its way out of the drawing room and into the set location for our short play  - “Stella saves the day”. Unsurprisingly, this involved a Labrador, afternoon tea, an Earl and Countess, three sisters, some guests and a dastardly Spanish Duke who lisped.  John G introduced the day’s filming, hung around a bit and operated the clapper board which was a key role. 

The Spanish Duke had an accent which seemed half Scottish and half Welsh to go with the lisp and was the “baddie”, stealing the little Lego characters and making off with them. Given he had cheese in his pocket,  Stella the Labrador quickly spotted him thus enabling Luis the Butler to catch the Duke red handed.    

What was lovely about both days was hearing the laughter and chat and have so many people come up to say thank you and what an amazing day they had enjoyed. 

Weekends like this are special and, apart from the programme of entertainment, the thought behind them is to offer time out, the space to step away from everyday demands and just be with friends, even maybe to make some new friends.

It is date for your diary two years hence: 15th and 16th September 2028