Spring break at Caerphilly

I confess I had something of a head on the next morning, but Lissy had a train to catch - she was going to check out Bath before meeting up with her ride to Caerphilly: we'd swung her a spot as an honorary member of the Company of Chivalry for the weekend.

This is my fourth event at Caerphilly, and it's starting to feel very much like home. Not so Lissy, who was like a kid in a lolly shop at this, her second British castle, and her first trip to Wales.

I hope I never completely lose that thrill, even when I've done a hundred or more shows here. We camp in the castle. We drive over the drawbridge, we go walking through mist at dawn when the old stones and broken towers are eery and beautiful.

And we cook up a storm: parsnip fritters, perfectly seasoned pottage, cabbage with onion and bacon, savoury rice, roast beef, honey saffron tarts and pears in red wine. Lissy, a professional cook, was a legend on the chopping board, and Liz and Steph, who I've been working with all season to feed this brood of boys and girls, all got on famously. As nights fell we wrapped up warm, donned drinking hats and set to in earnest.
All too soon the weekend was over, we were packing the car, and packing Liss off to her mate's place in Cardiff. I can't wait til next time we all catch up.