Berkeley is Wet, Will it be Dry for the Rally?

The heavy fairground stuff is in, we just need to wait for the other several hundred vehicles, tractors lorries and so on for the Lister Tyndale Steam Rally, being held at Berkeley Castle for the first time.

Sadly we've just had a heavy downpour and the weather doesn't look good for the next few days. Having said that, the weekend itself should be OK. Heavy traction engines and other vehicles may not mind the wet, but we want our showground to be in as good a condition as possible for the rest of our events at Berkeley during the Summer.

I went to Spetchley first thing today, our sister estate in Worcestershire, and the gardens look great after the recent mixture of sun and rain. I'm off to look at a trailer to convert to a mobile ticket office and shop for the gardens tomorrow morning. We'll be discussing what colour to paint it and what the interior will be like. All to a budget set by the Trustees.

Hope the motorway tonight will be not too crowded with Muppet drivers driving badly in the wet!

Working in a Norman Castle

What do I do I hear people cry as they yawn over the blog. I work at Berkeley Castle, in Gloucestershire as the Marketing Manager, for the Berkeley Family.

It is a Norman Marcher Castle (the Keep was started in late 12th Century) built midway between Bristol and Gloucester: the purpose was to keep the invading Welsh out as the River Severn is just a mile away. I have Welsh roots and I felt compelled to admit this at interview, but luckily it was not held against me and I have not, so far, been seen as a Fifth Columnist.

The survival of the Castle and the Berkeleys who built it over 24 generations ago is fascinating and working for an historic Estate which deals with issues for the next 100 years, rather than the usual 5 year business plan is also different - and very rewarding.

Working in the country and not being snarled in commuter traffic has major benefits too.

Better get back to organising the events, despite the gloomy weather forecast.

First Blog

I'm not sure how this will go but it seems worth a punt as everyone else seems to be doing it. Why should I end up being the "Last man blogging" at the end of it all?

As a first post I have little to say except I started this on the spur of the moment and will have to see how often I return to it, but as a Friday afternoon distraction it seems an interesting way to launch a presence on to the interweb.