Herstmonceux Medieval Festival 2014

Hi everyone!
It was that time of year again and the medieval festival of Herstmonceux was upon us. Sadly the only festival we managed to go to this year but we had a great time :) This year I was very un-medieval in the sense that I was carrying the big camera. Every year I bring my little happy snapper but the result is just not quite the same. In total I took about 700 pictures (which I have them filtered of course and about half went into the bin) and some of them were great. You can really tell the difference! Unfortunately, that also meant hardly any pics of myself but I guess sacrifices have to be made ;)

I took two additional days off so we arrived during the day for once, it was so much less stressful!

We met up with lots of friends whom we only see once year. This is taken in their camp.

 

I followed the bf around the archery course to take some pics (too many to share here). Clearly I look very medieval here LOL

The Pentacle Drummers had their giant lady again of course

There was falconry with lots of different birds, I just loved this owl! And with the big camera I could zoom in close enough to actually get a decent piccie.

Devilstick Peat was there as well of course, he has such a funny show!

I watched the battle through my camera, hurray for massive zoom lens :)

 

 I usually just get a couple of blurry pictures of the knights, this is so much better!

 Later on there was jousting as well. As I hadn't found the 'burst' option on the camera I have no 'impact' photos but this one is not too bad.

With a few less traders than the years before, there were still some funny 'shops'. Like this stall selling medieval bears...

...or this still where you could make your own candles...

 

...or if you need any type of tool you can find it here...

...or pottery and most importantly my favourite wine!

Circlet galore, this stall holder was kind enough to pose for my attempt at an artistic (and funny!) picture. I love it LOL

The archery was done, the shows were finished and I'd seen all the stalls. Time for a rest and the only couple picture of the weekend for us. This is one for the calendar!

Off to the archery prize giving, with chairs this time! It's tiring all that re-enacting ;)

Sadly, the next day it rained. Well, it didn't rain, it POURED. For the ENTIRE DAY!

There were hardly any visitors and most of the shows were moved inside of the tents. It was cold and wet. That's where knowing the traders comes in handy that provide some dryness and a nice cuppa tea :)

Due to the weather I'd left the camera at home so no great piccies anymore, but one of my friends took this one of me warming up with some wine in the tent. Yes I'm wearing about 4 layers of clothing here, and was actually relatively dry!

Back from our day in the field. The bf was so drenched he had to change into civvies near the end of the day so these were the docs. I don't even want to know what his medieval boots looked like! My clogs were once again the saviour of my lovely dry feet :)

The next day it still hadn't cleared up but at least the rain held off for a bit. One last shot of the castle before heading home, back to the 21st century... 

It was a great weekend, the additional time off was very beneficial for travelling as we didn't have to rely on weekend service. And I got a TON of great photos :) Roll on next year! I now just have to make a medieval bag for the camera to hide it a bit better...