Field Trip to Caverswall Village

St Peter's Churchyard, Caverswall

On Wednesday October 23rd we travelled to Caverswall village as part of our project “Life in an English Village”. We arrived in two taxi cabs from Stoke on Tent, which dropped us outside the castle on the edge of the village and from there we walked to the village green, passing the village hall and the Millenium garden. (audio)
The rain had stopped and clouds soon gave way to much needed sunshine. The village hall is very near the green, but we had to contend with quite a bit of traffic, which we did not expect. Perhaps it was because there was no regular public transport. In fact it is quite difficult to get to Caverswall without a car or a bicycle.
On arrival at the village green we came across a large tree with a set of stocks, surrounded by bright orange pumpkins with candles inside and with faces cut into them. At this time of year many children celebrate Halloween in Britain, usually by having parties and eating different kinds of sweets and dressing up in unusual and scary costumes. Perhaps the village was organising such a party?
After taking several short films and numerous photos of the buildings we decided to walk towards St Peter’s church. In doing so we passed another church, built almost next to the castle: St Filomena's Roman Catholic Church. I new that the castle was once a Catholic convent with nuns and that this church had been built just over a hundred years ago. I didn't know however that there was a Catholic Primary School, setback, on the other side of the road to St Filomena’s.
St Peter’s church is clearly an older building. The surrounding grave yard is full of old worn headstones, some dating back 200 years. Apparently, members of Admiral Nelson’s family are also buried here. Unfortunately both this  church and the Roman Catholic one were locked, but our next trip will hopefully make up for this. From here we walked to the rear entrance of the castle, located behind St Filomena’s. Here we could walk right up to the castle door, and to do so we had to cross a stone bridge resembling a drawbridge. Below us we could see a moat filled with water.
Time was beginning to fly so I decided to take the group to the other side of the village where Charles, a friend of mine from the university lived. By chance we bumped into him on the way and he gave us a guided tour of his garden, complete with badger set and tree houses!
The weather had started to change for the worse and a cold October wind accompanied us all the way back to Blythe bridge station. We even passed Caverswall crossing with its old station house, now a home. Pity they closed Caverswall station!
So what did you think of your first visit to an English Village?