Warwick Castle & Motor Museum
We excitedly made our way to Warwick Castle. This medieval castle was originally built in 1068 and is full of history, magic, myth and adventure surrounded in 64 acres of beautiful grounds and gardens including Pageant Field and The Central Courtyard.
We sat in the beautiful grounds and had lunch in the sunshine before making our way through the Peacock Garden with its topiary peacocks, manicured hedges and a spectacular pond and fountain. We made our way into The Great Hall with its huge variety of armour and weaponry and grand interior, strolling through the lavish state rooms and visiting the Earls private chapel.
We were challenged at the Horrible Histories Maze where we rediscovered the Vicious Vikings, Stormin Normans and centuries more with interactive activities. After a few wrong turns we managed to find our escape route just in time for a short rest and a well earned drink.
We headed to the War of the Roses Live show, taking us back to 1455 where King Henry Vl's crown is challenged by the house of York. With rival clashes and ferocious horseback battles, astounding stunt riding, fearless jousting and special effects, this was a spectacular experience to watch.
We joined the Falconer on a quest for the finest birds across the land. We were delighted to see the Eagle Owl, the largest species in the world. We saw Harris Hawks, Bald Eagle and the Andean Condor with a wing span of up to 9 feet. It was wonderful to see these beautiful birds in flight with some landing close enough for the group to get a good view of them.
A dream day for all the car enthusiasts was had at the Gaydon Land Rover Show 2021 at the British Motor Museum. On arrival we walked around the open air exhibition which was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Range Rovers with limited edition models, modified, emergency and military collections built covering the 50 years. 
We stopped and had a drink watching some live music from the popular vintage trio The Barn-Ettes. We couldn’t resist dancing to the music of the 50s and swinging 60s in the warm sunshine.
Continuing our tour of the Jaguar Zone where we viewed the record breakers display which features four of the world’s fastest MGs.
We then saw the Royal cars which are on long term loan to the museum including the first bespoke Royal Land Rover state review car used for HM Queen Elizabeth ll first Commonwealth Tour and a 1971 Rover P5B, personal property of the Queen. Although these vehicles are not to be touched by the visiting public our group were offered a rare opportunity to sit in these vehicles and get a feel of how the Queen and Prince Philip travelled during their world wide visits. What a wonderful privilege and an amazing experience for us. Of course, we practised our Royal wave to all the surprised visitors in the museum who were passing by.
We could never resist an ice cream.... well, we are on holiday after all!
An excited group were delighted to arrive at Cadbury World where we travelled back in time to Mexico walking through the tropical rainforests of the Mayan Indians and discovered the origins of the cocoa bean deep in the ancient tropical rainforest. We then travelled back in time to the Victorian Bull Street where we watched a short film on John Cadbury and saw where the Cadbury business began.
We had great fun watching the chocolatiers showing their chocolate making skills and were delighted to get the chance to practise our own piping skills by writing our names in chocolate.
Next we headed for the 4D experience. We sat in our seats and enjoyed an adventurous journey on the Crunchie Rollercoaster and the Cream Egg Airship whilst being joined with some of our favourite Cadbury characters.
A morning was spent at Birmingham Sea Life Centre. On arrival we were greeted by the Gentoo penguins and their cheeky antics as they dived beneath the freezing waters and playing in their icy home. The group enjoyed the rock pool and were able to gently stroke the starfish which was a lovely opportunity for an up close experience. We learned about some of the conservation programmes in place to clean our oceans of plastics and the different projects in place to protect our marine life. We were thrilled to have experienced the UK's only 360 degree Ocean Tunnel where sharks, a giant turtle, rays and hundreds of tropical fish swim overhead and underneath as we walked through.
Down at the Ten Pin Bowling Alley we split into two teams and had a friendly few games with some fantastic scores and a few strikes along the way. After a nail biting finish Helen was the overall winner with an amazing score of 109! A huge congratulations to her and to the rest of the group for showing great sportsmanship and for making it a fun afternoon.
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