South West Trains are still doing a special offer of travel any time day returns for £15, so I decided to have another day out, and booked a ticket for Wareham in Dorset, with the idea of going to Corfe Castle, which is owned by the National Trust.
I didn't get the first train on the morning, but almost; I caught the 6.30 a.m. from Waterloo, which gets to Wareham just after nine o'clock, and would give me time to have a look around and go to the Post Office before getting the bus to Corfe Castle - it goes from the town centre at ten past the hour.
The station is half a mile from the town, which is really quite small - not much more than the main street, although it does have a large Sainsburys in one of the side streets. There are lots of little shops, stacks of pubs, a market, a museum (which I didn't go to), a very old church (St. Martin-on-the-Walls) dating back to Saxon times, which was firmly locked although the key could be borrowed from one of the shops, and which appeared to have just one service a week on a Wednesday, a river where you can hire boats - in fact, it gives the impression of being rather a nice place to live. I saw there was a concert on at Lady St. Mary's Church which is at the other end of the high street, in the evening as well as a flower festival, and decided to go it I could.
The bus to Corfe Castle only takes twenty minutes, although I got off at the first stop rather than the third, as I should have done. That meant I had a good ten minutes' walk through the woods and along the river to the Castle, instead of about two minutes up the road.
I hadn't realised before that there is a village there as well as the castle; whenever I've seen pictures there has just been the ruined castle on a hill-top. But in fact there is quite a large village at the bottom of the hill, with shops, cafes, a museum, a large church and a fair amount of housing.
There was a festival for children on today, with a number of tents where people dressed in medieval clothes talked about their lives and work: a doctor, a lord, a steward, a carpenter, an archer, etc, All very interesting for the children, of which there were rather a lot, and who were also encouraged to take a sheet and look for various things around the castle.
Corfe Castle dates back to the 11th century, and was originally built by William the Conqueror, although there were alterations in the 12th and 13th centuries. It remained in Royal hands until Elizabeth 1 sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton, who in 1635 sold it to Sir John Bankes - the Bankes family remained the owners until they gave it to the National Trust. Sir John Bankes was away at the time during the Civil War, when it was twice besieged by the Parliamentarians - the Bankes were Royalists - and his wife Lady Mary Bankes was in charge. The first siege was unsuccessful, but during the second, in 1645, the Castle was betrayed by someone inside, and was taken. Lady Mary was allowed to keep the keys in recognition of her brave efforts, but the castle itself was destroyed - it is rumoured that two ken involved in dynamiting the castle lie buried under the rubble. After the Restoration, the Bankes decided to build another house at Kingston Lacy, rather than restore Corfe Castle, so it remained a ruin.
But it is a very impressive ruin. Set on a hilltop, it is in a commanding position; with a clear view for miles on every side; it would be impossible to approach it without being seen.
Just below the castle is the very pretty little village, and it was from there that I got the bus into Swanage, after waiting for ages for it to come.
I had lunch in Swanage, and wandered all round the town, before climbing to the top of the cliff past the pier.The sun kept shining all day, and there was a bit of a breeze, so it really was pleasant to be out of doors.
Late afternoon I got the bus back to Wareham so that I could go to the concert, which started at 7 o'clock in Lady St. Mary's Church, and this also gave me a chance to have a look at their flower festival - the church was a mass of flowers everywhere, with all displays provided by parishioners.
The concert had a very varied programme, with songs, readings, recitations and music all connected in some way to the First World War and the audience were invited to join in the chorus of several items, singing the words printed in the programme. All the participant were local people, and although some of the acts were quite light-hearted, such as Joyce Grenfell's "The Canteen in Wartime" the general feeling was of a certian amount of solemnity, remembered the War. Unfortunately I had to leave before the final two items, "The Poppies Grow" and "Go Forth into the World in Peace", as it over-ran a bit (it was supposed to finish at 8.15 p.m.), as I had to catch the train back to London.
I arrived home rather tired, but it had been a wonderful day out - seeing interesting new places, walking miles and generally enjoying being out of London and in the fresh air.
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