Mrs. Woody gets a day out!

Somewhere that Mrs. Woody has wanted to go for some time now is Grimsthorpe Castle near Bourne in Lincolnshire. After a few abortive attempts today was the day we actually finally got there and it was open too! From that you can probably deduce that we have tried to go on a closed day before now!

Whilst not a castle in the traditional sense with a moat and battlements it still is impressive.

You can tell its going to be impressive when you see the driveway which is nearly a mile long!

Inside this is the entrance hall.

Certainly impressive for any visitors!

The castle is lived in and the present occupier and owner is Lady Jane Willoughby. Going upstairs there are rooms just oozing with history. This is where the throne and footstoll for George IV have ended up.

The throne is that big because he weighed between 28 and 30 stone - over 400lbs !

These are the thrones for Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and one of their sons. Apparently in this upstairs room Henry VIII held court but was so unfit he could not walk up the stairs so rode his horse!

We spent about two and a half hours wandering round and chatting with the knowledgeable and very friendly guides. Getting outside we did not really have time to fully explore all the gardens and grounds - there are about 10 miles of walks to do! - but we saw enough to decide on a return trip in the not too distant future.

A nice croquet lawn if you fancied trying the game out. I decided not too as it looked far too strenuous!

Mrs. W and me sat outside overlooking the croquet lawn and ate our packed lunch which I had carried about in a plastic carrier bag! We then headed for the gift shop where this ultimate picnic hamper made my plastic bag look somewhat inadequate but at £149 for the hamper, the plastic bag won't be thrown out just yet!

Back at WMD HQ the Panzer Ferry pontoon is being primed. It takes alot of paint with all those large flat surfaces!

I have also started to assemble the tracks which come as individual links and handily they are already off the sprue which saves some time.

According to the instructions I need to glue 105 links for each set of tracks - that's an awful lot of eye strain and carful gluing! I can see the swear jar getting a contribution at some point!