Flood

Springtime usually brings the ford by the castle into play. In medieval times Finham Brook was dammed to create a huge lake ("The Mere") that surrounded the castle, forming part of its defences, and a boating lake for Kings and Queens. Nowadays, it flows under culverts in the road. However, when we have a lot of rain and the ground is waterlogged, or in this case, when the snow melts, the B4103 Castle Road floods.

A recent comment in the Kenilworth Weekly News suggested that a bridge should be built over the brook. Whilst the occasional inconvenience of the road closing is an irritation, personally I think this would be a real shame as the ford is part of the charm of this part of the town.

This same Saturday evening, we walked down alongside Abbey Pool and looked back to the castle silhouetted against the sunset sky.

We carried on up the hill and round past Castle Green where we took in the last rays of sunshine shining against the red phone box and letter box which sit comfortably against the backdrop of 16th and 17th Century cottages.

Spring

April brought the daffodils in place of the snow. Taken from Castle Green, this photograph looks across towards the ruined Keep, built by Geoffrey de Clinton in the 1120s. Some of the top stage was added by King John between about 1210 and 1215. Visible to the right hand side is the Strong Tower, from where there are panoramic views across the mere towards the Pleasance. On this walk around the castle walls, we spotted this cross of light on Lunn's Tower.

Snow

In March 2006 we had a light covering of snow which presented the opportunity for some stunning photos of the castle. Unfortunately, I didn't take many, but did manage to get this shot in the morning sunshine from just by the car park.

Arrival!

These were a couple of our first photographs of Kenilworth castle after moving here in August 2005. The castle looked stunning in the late summer sunshine.