Thank You
Mountfitchet Castle wants to say a BIG thank you to everyone who kindly donated to our "Piggy Bank" in aid of the upkeep of our many rescued animals here at the castle
Over the last two years you have raised an amazing £152.66. This amount has already been earmarked to help towards the rescue and purchase of a new baby Fallow deer to join our alredy established herd in 2010
Please keep an eye out on our website for futher news of the new arrival
Well done to every one!
MOUNTFITCHET CASTLE ON FACEBOOK
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DEER LITTLE ORPHANS!
Three orphaned baby Fallow Deer were delivered to Mountfitchet Castle in Stansted Essex after their mothers were shot by poachers near the Sandringham Royal Estate in Norfolk.
The three orphaned fawns, now named Lily, Daisy and Foxglove, were brought to Mountfitchet Castle by head Deer Keeper Julian Stoyel of Houghton Hall Estate, Norfolk who knew that Mountfitchet Castle had successfully rescued baby deer in the past and already had deer at the attraction.
They are now under 24 hour care and being bottle fed by staff and are responding and doing very well to the loving care given to them at Mountfitchet Castle.
You can see a BBC NEWS video here
Poachers are now a big problem in Norfolk and other counties where they often take the opportunity to shoot female deer that are with their babies. Thankfully Lily, Daisy and Foxglove will now live peacefully for the rest of their natural lives within the castle complex fully protected from any poachers and predators alike.
SPRING IS IN THE AIR AT MOUNTFITCHET CASTLE
An ancient fertility chair has been installed in the castle and visitors are invited to sit and repeat a pagan verse that is supposed to bring fertility to the occupier of the chair and hope that they become pregnant.
The chair is hand carved in oak and took our wood craftsman Marian Kopitzki over 2 years to recreate copied from an old medieval drawing
SPEED DEER-DATING COMES TO ESSEX
During the ‘Rutting’ season (mating season), which is due to start any day and lasts for about three weeks every autumn, the wild young stags that live in the surrounding countryside frantically begin their search for their true love.
Staff at the Castle have decided to help the Stags and their three lovely maiden Fallow deer Holly, Lupin and Bluebell, who live within the Castle walls, to meet their perfect dates by building a deer ramp. This is a wooden ramp that will slope gently enough to allow roaming wild stags to walk up and jump safely over the Castle’s ten foot walls to gain entry into the complex and meet the girls of their dreams resulting, we hope, in a happy event next spring for our girls.
GHOST BUSTERS!
An internationally known ghost-busting company called Clearsight Paranormal Investigations came to the Castle and held a night time vigil to help solve the mystery of the ghostly apparition of a one armed Knight who appears in the vicinity of the Grand Hall within the medieval village.
After numerous reported sightings over the years by visitors and staff alike Clearsight Paranormal Investigations came along with their specialist team of mediums and psychic researchers and their ghost-hunting equipment including thermal scanners, dictaphones, motion detectors and an electromagnetic field meter to try and capture the elusive apparition of the knight affectionately named ‘Sidney’ by castle staff.
Although Sidney remained elusive, the results of ghostly activity were remarkable. The official report from the team can be viewed here.
HEN-PECKED PERCY GOES WALKABOUT
Mountfitchet Castle staff are at a loss as to why Percy the Peacock has gone walkabout in Stansted Village. He has been living happily at the Castle for the last four years and is the proud father of four chicks, but has now been missing for 10 days.
He lives with five Peahens within the grounds and all we can surmise is that he was getting too hen-pecked by his demanding wives and has flown the nest!
The Castle is offering a free family ticket (2 adults and 2 Children) for the Mountfitchet Castle Experience to anyone who can bring Percy home to us safe and sound again.
PRINCESS DIANA'S BICYCLE
The
House on the Hill Toy
Museum has purchased Princess Diana's tracker bike that was sold to her former housekeeper at Althorp, Mrs Maudie Pendry, who recently passed away.
With the bike comes a letter to Mrs Pendry from Diana offering her condolences when her husband passed away and a family portrait Christmas card signed by Diana 'with love from Diana' dated 1994.
Mrs Pendry's son put the bike up for auction at Keys Auctions in Aylsham, Norfolk. The House on the Hill toy museum was determined to be the successful winner in a bid to keep our royal treasures in this country. The bicycle will go on permanent display along with all the other items of memorabilia and toys for all to see. [See BBC website]
GERTIE THE GOOSE FOLLOW UP!
After surviving an attack by a fox which frightened her off her nest, she then defied death by trains on the railway
lines, Gertie the Goose has now become a mum of two goslings - Jackie and Terry.
Gertie was frightened off her nest in the early hours of the morning. She took to flight and flew out of the Castle, over the palisade and landed on the Liverpool Street to Cambridge mainline tracks. Workmen from Balfour Beatty managed to catch her who then returned her to the safety of Castle staff where she was reunited with her clutch of eggs.
Since her adventures Gertie has been happily sitting on her nest and early today she proudly presented two little goslings - Jackie and Terry. A happy ending....
GERTIE THE GOOSE TAKES AN AWAY DAY
Gertie the Goose, a large white goose, has been patiently sitting on eggs in her chosen nesting place underneath the Dovecote
at the Castle. Gertie was frightened off her nest by a fox jumping in on her. She flew out of the grounds of the Castle and landed on the rail tracks to ‘catch an away day ticket’ on the mainline between
Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport – consequently disrupting rail traffic temporarily until railway line workmen managed to
catch her and return her to the Castle where she was reunited with her clutch of eggs.
PTERODACTYL FLIES INTO STANSTED!
A prehistoric Pterodactyl arrived in Essex to join the other prehistoric
creatures who recently moved in to Stansted Mountfitchet.
The Pterodactyl, along with Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, Triceratops and Velociraptor, will be taking its place guarding the entrance to Stansted Mountfitchet's House on the Hill Toy Museum, the world's largest toy museum.
The House on the Hill Toy Museum has over 80,000 individual items from dolls, tin toys, teddy bears and model railways to Action Man and Barbie. The Toy Museum also features a Rock 'n' Roll exhibition (featuring life-size Beatles) and offers the unique chance to play on the Edwardian What-the-Butler-Saw amusement machines.
"The Dinosaur Encounter is the latest attraction at the House on the Hill Toy Museum." says owner Jeremy Goldsmith. "Visitors come back time after time because there is always something new to see here and this year is no exception. We had these amazingly accurate giant dinosaurs produced by experts so that our visitors, especially the children, can really understand what kind of creatures roamed around Essex 150 million years ago. Now a visit to our Toy Museum really is a monster day out!"
The House on the Hill Toy Museum is part of our award-winning Mountfitchet Castle heritage complex which is open daily from 10am. As well as enjoying the nostalgia of the world-famous Toy Museum, visitors can step right back in time and experience life in 11th Century England in Mountfitchet Castle. This full-scale painstakingly restored Norman castle and 1066 village provides a unique living history experience.
