Off to Dover

Today, we took the short drive (by Oz standards) to Dover to check out Dover Castle - as it turns out, English Heritage (who run Dover Castle) had a range of kids activities for Easter, so there was some terrific face painting.  The two guys doing the face paining must have been professional film make up artists - they were doing wicked scars on loads of little boys and one girl that I saw.  They were very realistic. Max was going to have one until he saw a particularly gory scar which looked just a bit too real for Max and he then opted for a shark instead. Jemima went for a beautiful pink mask.  Check the photos below:

English Heritage had plenty of other activities as well as a Jester.

The Castle itself had plenty of interesting features - the central most recognisably castle like features being in the centre of the whole complex was a bit like a maze inside and featured furnishings and decorations in line with the 1100's (the Castle was built shortly after the 1066 ad victory by William the Conquerer (Duke William II of Normandy) built Dover Castle combined both square traditional styling and multiple layers of ringed defenses that were all the rage in fortifications on the continent. This combination of styles meant that William was making a 'macho' statement with the central section, while still providing real defenses  against possible invaders trying to take the port or establish a beachhead at Dover.

The interior of the central section of Dover Castle.

After the Dover Castle, we t ook a short drive to the viewing area for the White Cliffs - it's really quite strange to see whole cliffs made of such a soft material as Chalk  - you can pick up pieces of Chalk from the ground and write with them...  amazing!