Corfe Castle

An amazing shot M took on his phone from the car park when the evening light was a little eerie. 

Exhausted after the crawling
M3 and M25 traffic

Our 2014 summer holiday began with a very slow drive down to Dorset with Granny, Gramps, our luggage and us piled into the same VW van our cousies had hired from Traffic Self Drive(AL2 2LP UK), a while back for their mid year break. I think all of England must have arrived at July 24 and decided - 'That's enough let's get on the road and head south.' The M3 Services we pulled into were so full that five security guards were directing traffic to the few empty parking spaces. We chose to sit under some pines, on some plumbing hardware after the long queues. Charlie enjoyed his KFC, he also enjoyed eating off the ceramic plate that came under Granny's 'take away' muffin for the rest of the trip!

The National Trust looks after this haven for wild life. One of the
last places the native red squirrel isn't bullied by the american greys.
Ferries provide south coast tours of varied lengths.

M's GPS took us down through Poole's suburb of Lilliput to a very long queue. In true English style we joined it, hoping it was for the Haven car ferry. I took Charlie for a walk to stretch his legs and uncramp my coccyx (the back story of the broken bum need not be shared but continued to be a challenge through all the loong drives) to discover how long we would have to wait for what we hoped we were waiting for. The ferry was tied up at the Studland side to allow a multitude of yachts and a large container ship to pass through the points and head out to sea. We made it onto the second crossing and happily whiled away the time with an ice lolly, staring across the water towards the nature reserve of Brownsea Island (National Trust).

After paying the ferryman on the South point we wound our way up the Purbeck peninsula to the dear little, grey stone village of Corfe Castle. It is called this because towering above on a conical hill are the picturesque remains of a once proud Castle.

Arrow slits in the round guard towers designed to have the enemies arrows glance off the walls.
M is giving me the archer's salute!

It is said that in the original wooden structure, King Edward was murdered by his step mother (in 979) for her son - Ethelred the Unready, to be named King. William the Conqueror had it rebuilt in stone, no doubt some of the famous Purbeck marble being quarried from the base of the hill was incorporated in its interiors. It was completed, after 200yrs of redevelopment and restyling, by King John. He stored his jewels there and although he claimed it was his favourite spot in England, he only managed to stay in it for a total of 27 nights; the downside of ruling a disgruntled country.

In a sneaky move by Queen Elizabeth I it was sold out of royal hands to her dancing master, Sir Christopher Hatton, who fortified it against the expected Spanish attack (1580's). Brave Dame Mary (Bankes) successfully defended the Castle through two sieges (1643,45) in the Civil war until one of her own officers sold out to Cromwell's men. This was the first time the Castle had changed hands through force. Upon its capture an act of Parliament commanded engineers to use gunpowder to blow it up from the inside.

The National Trust now cares for its bones and had organised a Medieval Fair through the week we were there. We felt very pleased that we had wandered through the castle on Sunday before the advertised start date. The lovely lady in the sweet shop was having to have chocie biscuits by 10am later in the week because of the waves of eager holiday makers looking for their sweet fix. She told me that the locals all scurry out early for bread and milk then stay at home until the tourists have left after sundown.

A display of medieval medicine.  I wonder if it was the plague protection that first caused doctors to be called Quacks? 

The village has a well stocked grocer, bakery and several pubs that all claim to have the best of something in town. The pub across the road from our Dorest Holiday Cottage (www.dhcottages.co.uk) had an enormous cockerel who diligently rounded up his absent minded scavenging hens. Charlie just loved watching them from the cottage window but when we went there for dinner was so disgusted at his short lead preventing chasings that he curled up and went to sleep. He made up for this restraint by relentlessly chasing the poor mice in the cottage back garden.

Charlie on mouse alert under the apple tree.

The honey bees buzzing around the lavender made an effective no pass zone for Petal but she found a way around

The village appears on a box of biscuits in the Sweetie shop.

 As a tourist hub of cuteness, Corfe Castle also has an Enid Blyton nostalgia store called Ginger Pop next to the little post office where I bought a DVD of a 1950's series of Famous Five film. Remember the first story of Treasure on Kerrin Island - Corfe Castle was used as the setting of the ruin on the Island. The author has many holiday connections with the area. The Dorset Council has produced a PDF of the areas she frequented - www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=158687

Left:Ian Harris image from http://ianharrisceramics.co.uk Check out this site for exhibition dates and sales.
Right: Judy Tate image from http://www.thetates.me Order her work from this site too.

Don't miss the potter (Ian Harris) set up in a forge abandoned by the last owners when cousins adapted their competing blacksmith business into a garage for automobiles. A horse could be lead through the tiny entry space but not a car. The original daub and wattle walls are on show. He had recently had a stay in NZ; fascinated with the layed rock formations seen on the coast, he created a lovely series of sculptures and vases in Purbeck clay. This clay was once transported to England's famous ceramic factories, bolstering the little town's economy through the industrial revolution. A gallery further down East Rd (this is the busy one - West rd is narrower with the slow traffic of locals and visitors trying to find the only public parking in town on a one way track by the cemetery) had several landscapes by local artist Judy Tate that I would have loved to have taken home but groceries are always a higher priority.

The biggest treat of Corfe Castle for some of our group, was the historic steam railway that goes from Corfe Castle to Swanage down on the coast. Trains were running every hour, every day the week we visited but are not normally so regular. M jumped out at one station and wasn't back in the carriage when I spotted the signals change.  I jumped out calling for him but just like a naughty little boy from a Milne poem, he turned up saying of course he wouldn't be left behind - he was in the cab with the driver being shown how to drive the thing - no he didn't get to travel up there and blow the whistle. Granny was very cross because another enthusiast hung out the window in front of her with a very bright shirt and managed to wiggle into most of her photos. It was a very relaxing way of getting down the peninsula.

This panel was on the town pump in the
square. The design used as the Mayor's seal
until Corfe Castle lost its status as a town.

A tiny museum had some interesting bits of the area's past and asked for coin donations to keep it open, these slid down a tube and rung an old bell. If you contact the organising body ahead of time you can arrange to see a book of poems set in Dorset by William Barnes. This Minister was part of a movement of academics wanting to purify the English language by taking out of it all the Greek, Latin and modern European influences. They were after what English would be if William the Bastard had not become known as the Conquerer. He also studied the Dorset dialect and used these words and spellings in his Dorset poetry. Willow discovered that a very small group of people still speak Cornish - a rare dialect in Cornwell, and that a few of them don't even speak the Queen's English. Amazing isolation in such a small country.
William Barnes called for the purification of English by removal of Greek, Latin and foreign influences so that it might be better understood by those without a classical education. For example, the word "photograph" (from Greek light+writing) would become "sun-print" (from Saxon). Other terms include "wortlore" (botany), "welkinfire" (meteor) and "nipperlings" (forceps).  http://en.wikipedia.org

Oh! it meäde me a'most teary-ey'd,

An' I vound I a'most could ha' groan'd-

What! so winnèn, an' still cast azide-

What! so lovely, an' not to be own'd;

Oh! a God-gift a-treated wi' scorn

Oh! a child that a squier should own;

An' to zend her awaÿ to be born!-

Aye, to hide her where others be shown!

William Barnes, Last verse of The Love Child

Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect (June 1879), p.382

Corfe Castle was a lovely little village to have as our home for a week and is well worth a stop in a busy south of England tour.

Great view of the Castle from the National Trust Tea rooms. Charlie has found shade under the table after his big explore

M and Gramps packing the van the morning we left in the empty pub car park across the road.
Half way through a sudden and mighty downpour splashed their legs and luggage with mud.
Lucky the hatch door shielded them from the full force.
Lucky that the clouds emptied here and not on RevD's church fete up at Watford that day!

One of the many, many picture postcard homes in the village.