John Goodall, The Castle

 Nice to read something by someone who knows and loves his subject, apparently this is a companion piece to John Goodall's well-respected 'The English Castle', which is in my 'to-read' pile but is so big and heavy the bedroom floor is bowing under its weight. It's too big to carry so will never be one of my everyday reads, it's next in line after a similar behemoth about William Morris that I read a few pages of at night sometimes. 'The Castle' was nice though, lots of bite-sized chunks about various castles at various notable points in history to illustrate the development of the castle as a thing and as a concept. Freddie left for his school trip to Newquay earlier today and has already WhatsApped me from the service station asking which sun cream to buy as he forgot to pack his. I can see that he's in Newquay now, hopefully out on the beach and will have a great time over the next few days