HALSTEAD — it has been a beautiful sunny day today though the forecast for the rest of the week is for rain and a temperature drop of seven or so degrees. I began today by leaving the inn on foot and walking around the corner to the parish church to search for Sturmers and Alstons. I had no luck in finding any—it looked like the graveyard had had a makeover to clear many headstones and leave only those that would contribute to a most atmospheric cemetery. And many of those remaining had illegible inscriptions.

After returning to the inn I picked up the car and headed a few miles away to Hedingham Castle, a 900 year-old Norman Keep that is one of the best preserved in England. There were four floors to explore—the basement, garrison quarters, great hall with minstrel’s gallery, and the dormitory. The ancestral home of the Earls of Oxford, the de Veres, the great hall can be hired out as a venue for weddings—which would be a romantic setting for couples who see themselves as a princess and knight in shining armour.

To get to the castle keep you had to walk through some woodland that was alive with the sound of birds. At one point I stopped to take a photograph looking down the path with the sun piercing the tree canopy when a squirrel ran across the path. Took a photo and I’m pretty sure I got him—though looking at the image on the camera he’s a lot smaller than I remember looking through he viewfinder!