Medieval Glamping at Warwick Castle

A weekend of Medieval Glamping at Warwick Castle couldn't be more my cup of tea if it was an actual cup of tea. When I first learned that this was a possibility I was SO excited, and even more so when lovely KC offered to sort out a visit as my birthday treat! 

I couldn't wait to head off and pretend to be in a much more family-friendly Game of Thrones, but a December birthday does not make for a good camping weekend so we thought it best to wait for the weather to warm up a tad, and finally our weekend rolled around.

I'll admit I had pretty high expectations on out night at the Knight's Village, but I still couldn't get over how perfect it was! 

There are a few different accommodation options in the Knights Village, which is made of a number of different lodges and tents. The lodges were gorgeous and came complete with shower, tv and even a hairdryer, but on my first browse of the 'short breaks' section of the site, it was the Medieval Tents I'd fallen for!

There were a couple of different classes of tent - the basic 'Warwick Tent', a pink princess themed one and the fancy-pants 'Kings Luxury Tent'. I was perfectly happy with my common serfs tent but I did sneak a peak at the Kings tent on my exploration of the village and it did look spectacular - with the best location right by the river, four poster beds and throne-like seats so you can sit outside with your included chess set to while away the hours like royalty.

That's not to say I wasn't thrilled with our less-Kingly accommodation! I've never been a 'camper' if I'm honest - I'm too much of a fussy sleeper to make a sleeping bag on the ground seem like a tempting option - so I met the sight of our proper double bed with great enthusiasm! 

So, cosy double bed with proper sheets and everything for us, yay! Single bed apiece, likewise, for the kiddos, proper wood floor boards, storage trunks, mirror and table with suitably medievalish chairs... plus electric lights which was super as I'm useless and forgot torches (I did mention I wasn't much of a camper!) 

The tent was so cosy - and after a long drive down to Warwick, a day full of castle-y activities and an evening full of even more castle-y activities we were all happy to fall into out beds!

Despite not being the warmest of weekends, we were all perfectly snug, with blanket options a-plenty, and noise from the other villagers wasn't a problem either! 

I had a surprisingly good (k)nights sleep, woke up to this lovely view from our tent, and headed off to our medieval banquet breakfast!

Food at the Knights Village

I was crazy about the Banqueting Hall, and so glad that we'd booked our evening meal there as well as the included breakfast. The place was all decked out beautifully and just as we sat down with our food a pair of knights charged in and declared battle in front of us which definitely added to the medieval ambience! 

I didn't get too many photos of the food as I was way too busy eating it! I don't usually expect too much from a buffet style meal like this but was genuinely pretty impressed with not just the quality of the food but the variety - there were a couple of vegetarian dishes on the main menu, and at breakfast I noticed they had containers for regular, vegetarian and gluten-free sausages ready-prepared (so none of that awkward asking and waiting for them to be cooked separately!) 

The kids discovered the ability to make their own pancakes in the morning at breakfast (though the use of a very safe, very easy machine - no one let them near a hot pan!) and both ate so many that it bordered on the obscene!

Entertainment

Since I'd learned that I'd booked a week too early for a lot of the main school-holiday entertainment at Warwick Castle through the day time, I'd expected the same would hold true for the evening activities at the Knights Village. This wouldn't have been a problem, as exploring the serene little woodland village and chilling out in our cosy tent would have suited me just fine - but the youngsters loved the extra entertainment available to them after the castle closed up to the public!

After seeing the phenomenal birds of prey shows earlier in the day, there was the opportunity to get close to one of the little feather fellas. Little Casper was significantly smaller than some of the huge birds we'd seen at the castle (who I imagine some of the little kids wouldn't have wanted to get too near to, for fear of being eaten!), but he was ever so charming, and loved posing for photos!

The bird handing was the only one of the extra activities that was charged, and I did think this was a little excessive at £7.50 for just a few minutes, but the kids really did love doing it so was worth the cost - especially when you balance it out over the included activities.

Like the archery, which was free in the Knights Village. I wish I'd knows that before paying for them to do it earlier in the day at the castle, of course, but hindsight is a marvellous thing! And it's not like it's something they get to practice a lot at home...!

After watching the expert sword fighters do their thing, the kids all got a spot of weapons training... 

... and got to sped the rest of the trip practising their newfound skills against each other!

I've stayed in some pretty nice places in my time, but the Knights Village at Warwick Castle might just be my favourite. I know its a bit cheesy, I know it's meant for kids, I know its not for everyone - but I'm a big nerd, a knights-and-castles devotee, and I absolutely loved it! I really hope we get to stay again next year! 

Would you fancy a historical weekend of medieval glamping? Where's the best/silliest place you've ever stayed?