You don't see this in NZ

We are back from the dedication of the Monte Cassino memorial at the national memorial arboretum. A really good turnout of 150 or so.
The arboretum is quite new and any group who wants to have a memorial can build one. lots of armed forces ones and some for individuals as well.
I read one "In memory of the kind woman donor who donated her liver from the family of the recipient"
Some were large and others quite small and personal.
The centrepiece is a memorial and name wall for armed forces that have died since world war 2
on a mound in the middle.

A dedication and prayers etc then a nice afternoon tea in a marquee.

It was lovely to catchup with some of the veterans that we met on the tour that Perry Guided in Italy last year. ( good to see they were still alive!)

That night a group of us went out for dinner and had a lot of laughs and a nice catchup.

Sunday we decided to stop at any English heritage sites that we passed the first was Bolsover castle, made our way there and were happily surprised to find it was medieval fair day. There was jousting, lots of people in costume camping in the style of the medieval times and my favourite falconry. They flew three different birds and they flew fast and  high and then swooped down.

photos of the fair

There was a lovely castle, well it is a mock castle built as a romantic hideway for the king and his wife ( or other female friends)

Lots of paintings of ladies with not many clothes on, a much more ample body shape than is the "ideal" now.

Fantastic views over the countryside, for some reason P looks like he is clutching the castle, scared of heights maybe.