An Ecsape to Banwell castle

Our first outing in Britain was to Western Supermare. Steve’s love for beaches might have been a probable reason for the selection of this destination. I was fine with any damn place. I just wanted to escape to in place away from house that day. The venue was less than an hour’s drive from Bristol .The place, typically like all other beaches, was full of life. Families playing cricket, young ladies basking in the sun, old mates patiently trying their luck in fishing and shopkeepers trying to sell as much as they could.
After taking a long walk along the beach for about an hour, we decided to have some tea. We even entered a tea shop by the side of the road. It wasn’t of my taste, because I got a first impression that the shop owner was interested in making quick money rather than ensuring satisfaction of his customers. He or she was just encashing the prime location and nearness to the beach. But then when you are someone’s guest, you have to go by the taste of your host. Steve in our case. Suddenly Steve backed out of the coupon queue. He seemed to have the same feelings as mine. But I never had an idea of the alternate plan Steve had. He desperately wanted to go to a place called “Banwell” castle. In Britain, many old castles have been converted into restaurants and hotels. This place was one of them. Pat too was overjoyed to know about his decision. Steve confirmed if the place was open by calling them.”We never shut down” was the reply. This was the first time I had entered a castle in Britain, and it looked quite impressive to me. Pat ordered “Cream Tea” without even looking at the menu. Steve followed. Looking at their confidence levels, we too were drawn into the cream tea club. All along the next half an hour, I kept wondering what it might be like! The owner of the castle was a rather interesting chap with a good sense of humor. An extended family was sitting next to us probably celebrating a marriage anniversary (a wild guess). One of the couples, tried to remind this guy about how they had spent their honeymoon in the castle six years ago and pointed at a room which they had taken. “Oh really? That’s supposed to be a garage”, came a crisp reply. Cream Tea arrived. It was a well prepared ‘normal’ tea accompanied by some cream, jam and the huge, soft bread. There were peacocks around. But by now I had seem more peacock in Britain than in India.(Proud Indians should take serious note of this statement).British seem to be fascinated by the bird, and have almost domesticated it. We wrapped it up with a small photo session.