Ever since I first read about it I wanted to visit the village of Tyneham. You can read more about it online, but the gist is that right before Christmas in 1943, the entire village of Tyneham was evacuated as the village was taken over by the military for the duration of the war. The villagers had a month to get out with a promise that they could return following the end of WWII. It never happened.
Walking around it there was a lot of ruins, the school and the church is still preserved, but all of the other buildings were falling down, if not gone completely. If you ever plan to visit keep in mind that the rest of the surrounding area is owned by the military and so there's lots of target practice going on, etc…
Ephraim's grandfather, Robert, should be particularly proud that we played the pump organ.
The castle dates back to the 11th Century, and at one point was used solely as a royal treasure storehouse, and prison. First off, I mean, who has so much treasure you need an entire prison to store it, and secondly, who the hell stashes their treasure in the same building as their criminals?
The ruins were beautiful and had an amazing view of the surrounding area, including the small village which bears the same name as the castle itself.
For our last and final stop we went to Lulworth Castle.
Built in the 17th Century as a hunting lodge. That's right. Apparently the 3rd Lord of Bindon had some extra money to spare at the time…They had an entertaining jousting competition but by far Ephraim's favourite thing was the tractor that took us to and from the Animal Farm. He cried when it drove away, and squealed with joy when it returned.
Lot of driving. Lots of site seeing. Tomorrow is beach day, here's hoping the weather holds out!
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