On our trip down south last month we stayed for one night only at Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire, just because I’ve always been intrigued by the French name of the town. However the road signs pointing to it only say Ashby well let’s face it, it’s a lot easier and cheaper, but it turns out that the town was originally called Ashby – right up until 1086 and the de la Zouch was added on after the Norman conquest when the town became a possession of the La Zouch family, during the reign of Henry III.

I had no idea that there was a castle there, it dates from the 12th century, is a short walk from Market Street and although it’s a ruin it’s still well worth a visit. Sir Walter Scott mentions it in Ivanhoe – which might be what g0t me interested in Ashby. In Regency times the town was a popular spa destination. Can you believe that when we drove into the town we couldn’t get down the main street which is Market Street because there was a fair in full swing? It was strung all along the street. I thought it was only St Andrews in Fife that had a fair like that. It made it difficult to see the buildings and not that easy to get into the shops, I doubt if the heavier footfall does anything for the local economy.

As you can see, it was a beautiful blue sky day, and really hot and the local church bells were ringing, probably practising. This seems to be something that happens in England a lot.

The edges of the grounds are a bit wild but beyond this fankle of greenery below is (I think) what was the jousting ground as mentioned in Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.

The photo below is a stitch of the castle so looks a wee bit wonky. If you happen to be near Ashby de la Zouch it’s definitely worth a visit, or even if you aren’t near as we travelled quite along way and weren’t disappointed. The town looks like a nice wee place – from what we managed to see of it through fair rides!

We climbed up the 96 steps of the castle tower and took a video of the view from the top – where it was quite windy.