"Muncaster Castle Day Three, Morning Hike and Castle" 9-10-08

I started this busy day by meeting my host Patrick and spent the entire morning walking the property with him. We left my backpack in a tiny little room with a tiny door to the outside of the castle and a spiral staircase that went up. Here he is standing in front of the castle looking out over the valley.

Below is the view we had that morning of the valley below the castle.

We went out into the garden, then into the woods and followed many paths and sometimes left it for the woods, Patrick knew it all like the back of his hand. This 1800 acres was his backyard!

A beautiful magical path.

Above a most gigantic Sycamore tree, the trees here are old and immense. Their canopy spans huge areas that Patrick said was a problem for the Rhododendrons trying to get light from below!
Below Patrick showed me that to tell the type of Rhododendron you flip the leaves over and look at the underside! His Rhododendrons are from all over the world and he keeps records of all their growth habits, failures and successes. He is a true master gardener.

We wound our way up the mountain, sometimes catching a glimpse of the valley through the trees, and then before you knew it a gate appeared before us.

This is the gate from the other side...it's called a kissing gate and is designed to keep livestock from pushing the gate open but people can easily swing it one way the back the other to allow them through.

Then I looked up and this is what I saw! The Irish Sea!! Wow, how amazing it was...this part of England looks out to the Isle of Man and past it Ireland. It was such a wonderful surprise to come out of the woods and an open expanse of beaches and water!

This is a road that leads to an old church on the castle grounds.

This is a view looking back down the terrace at the castle, it was extremely wide and immensely long.

This view is looking up the valley away from the castle, it gives me a chill even now to remember how it felt to stand there looking at such beauty.

These pictures of the paintings I actually took this morning as we prepared to leave the castle. Patrick had some things to attend to and I took some shots while I waited. I love portraits and these were incredible, some were by Gainsborough, Titian and Reynolds.

Just look at how dark and rich the colors in this man's face looks! I think he was a Pennington.