Richmond - Lemon & Pistachio Cake & Richmond Castle

Recently we have been to Richmond for the first time. Our main purpose was to visit Richmond Castle. We arrived at the town of Richmond early and had enough time to explore there and get a cup of tea. On our way to the center of the town, Wilfred Deli & Pantry caught my eye. Their baked goods looked lovely and the style of the shop was my taste. We bought tea and a slice of lemon and pistachio cake for take-out and had them at a bench in the Market Place. The cake was very nice! 

After the tea/cake break, we still had some time until the castle opened. We walked down to the waterfalls along the River Swale, and went up a sharp slope to the top of the hill on where the castle was situated. 

Richmond Castle is said "one of the finest and most complete 11th-century fortresses in the country." Although the way to the roof top of the keep was closed, but we were still allowed to go onto the Victorian barrack block, built in 1855, next to the keep. We enjoyed the nice view of the east curtain wall with three tower remains and the town and Yorkshire Dales outside the wall. 

The other side of the curtain wall wasn't much. We circled the castle enclosure, which is now a open grass field. 

At the corner of the south wall, there was the 11th-century block known as Scolland’s Hall that you can see an excellent example of early medieval domestic architecture in England. It's a two-story building with its main apartments on the first floor, where the lord of the castle entertained and fed his household, above an undercroft that was probably used for storage. 

I found something interesting outside of the hall! The gate at the corner of the east wall led us to the area known as the Cockpit. It seems that the name came from its use for cockfighting that was popular between the 16th and 18th centuries while the area could have been a garden for the early Norman castle since 11th century. 

Now the Cockpit was filled with beautiful flowers and apple and pear trees along with the contemporary topiary. It was my favorite spot of the castle, just forgetting poor cocks.

To be continued...