Lincoln Castle was the first re-enactment that Buckingham's Retinue participated in this year as part of the "Wars of the Roses Federation". Three days of good weather meant we had plenty of time to catch up with people we have not seen for a while, entertain the masses of public who came to watch us, and enjoy the brilliant Ice cream shop located just outside the gates.

Bodelwyddan Castle was a new event for the intrepid members of Buckingham's Retinue, but like  good men & women of Stafford we  bravely entered that part of the world that has 'here be dragons' on the map.

Arriving at the event after a suprisingly easy trip to find the Castle was visible from the main road was a pleasant suprise, if only all sites were this easy to find! I had been told the group had a choice of pitches, either next to the beer tent or next to the portapotty's, as it turned out being sited next to those wonders of sanitary engineering was a blessing in disguise for not only was it easy to find them in the dark, it meant we were the first group the public encountered on their travel through the site - but more of that later.

Re-enacting Saint George's day at Wrest Park for me will always bring back memories of looking after a 5 month old Benjamin Services at his first event, trying to ensure his fair skin did not burn too badly in the heat. Unfortunately this was 4 years later, the same April weekend was bitterly cold and damp, I suppose that was good news for some of the traders there though, as there seemed to be a never ending line of re-enactors returning from the market carrying bundles of army surplus blankets, or animal skins to wrap up warm in.

So where to start writing about 4 days of fun, interesting weather, hordes of public and actually being on the winning side?

I suppose the obvious place is the weather - after all we are British and it was quite a dominating feature of the weekend!