Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

The travel industry has changed dramatically over the past ten years. And so has the “castle” industry. Castles used to be stuck in this kind of limbo between museum and tour spot. They were relics from the past where you could walk through and learn about their history.

This has changed dramatically with the phenomenal success of the Bed & Breakfast Industry. Now there are many wonderful castles that have made the transition to B &B and you can spend the night or several nights sleeping in the same rooms as the royalty of old did!

Here are 4 Premiere European Castles with Bed & Breakfast accommodations. I say if you are going to travel to Europe why stay in a regular hotel when you can stay in a real castle!

Italy

The Castello Ripa d”Orcia (Siena) - Situated in the center of Orcia valley it is not far from Tuscany. This castle was built in the early middle ages and is absolutely gorgeous. Learn more about this castle on it’s official website. Lots of pictures and clearly posted rates for the Bed & breakfast accommodations. More information about this medieval castle

Ireland

Darver Castle - This is a 15th Century castle located 40 minutes out of Dublin. This castle has been renovated to modern standards and is a thriving business catering to weddings, vacations and corporate accounts. Go to the official Darver Castle website

France

Chateau de Ranton - Gorgeous 14th century castle located in the Loire Region . If you are really a big dreamer this whole castle and grounds can even be privately rented. Wow! The official website for this castle

England

This is a gorgeous medieval castle in the Northumbrian valley of the South Tyne. This is a real Medieval Castle that was built in the time when castle building was a matter of life and death! The walls are seven feet thick! Visit the official Langley Castle website

More Information

You can see an interactive map of these castles and other Bed and Breakfast castles here:

Bed and Breakfast Castles in Europe along with information, maps, and more

Maybe you will never be able to afford this kind of vacation but there is nothing wrong with dreaming!

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If you are the creative type; maybe you write fantasy medieval stuff, or you create video games or dungeon adventures or do creative work in the medieval/fantasy genre, you are probababy always looking for creative names, words and titles.

I have put together a list of resources to help you find this kind of thing.

The Seventh Sanctum -

The seventh sanctum ultimate name generator
Here you’ll find tools for writers, gamers, and artists; randomly assembling names, concepts, and more for when you need inspiration, or just a bit of amusement.

An Article on creating fantasy Names and words -aimed at writers:
Finding interesting fantasy and medieval names for your writing

A collection of interesting names, words, places, battlegrounds and castles
Medieval Names, Words, and Places

Popularity: 10% [?]

The History Channel is releasing some materials on it’s new film about the Dark Ages. Here is the great tagline from the video:

“600 Years of degenerate, godless, inhuman behaviour. The Dark Ages, March 4^th at 9 As as only the History Channel can bring you .”

The History Channel is also releasing a lot of great ancillary stuff with this film. Here is a quote from their Press Release:

History.com, the definitive historical online resource, will complement THE DARK AGES with the addition of a special site including an interactive timeline with CGI, videos and images, as well as a medieval dress-up game. The game will feature a name generator, dress-up and medieval profile for users to create their character using their own face. Users can dress up that character with elaborate customization – including tools and weapons that are historically accurate. After this is complete, a fully-dressed character that opens a parchment scroll with a red seal provides the user with their final character profile.

Here is the video:

If you want to see more videos they have a posting of seven different ones on their Youtube page: The Dark Ages Videos

Popularity: 3% [?]