I’m just squeezing these photos into November for Wild Daffodils photo challenge, better late than never! I hadn’t seen anything to inspire over the month but then this week we had family visiting from Australia and on a dank, dismal November day we called into Skipton Castle.

The photos are a little dark as it was a pretty dismal day and they didn’t do much in the way of lighting!

Skipton Castle is over 900 years old and for many years it was held by generations of the Clifford family. My walking buddy and I are walking the Lady Anne Way next year and it passes by all the castles owned by Lady Anne Clifford, starting at Skipton…

In case you’re wondering, the photo above was taken on a sunny April day when we did the first section of the Lady Anne Way!

These were taken on my mobile, so apologies for the quality!

This is the inner courtyard, there was a huge tree in the middle. It does make it pretty dark but you can see all the classic Norman arches with their rounded tops.

Some of the walls are about 6′ thick so the windows are in deep recesses. This one looks over Skipton main street…

…whereas this one overlooks the moors.

This one overlooks the tree in the courtyard, the stone mullions are still in great condition…

…this is the same window from the outside., though I’m not sure which one, possibly the top floor, judging by the tree.

It always amazes me to see buildings like this which were literally built by hand, you can still see masons marks on some of the stones – the mason would carve his initial or mark on the stones he laid so he would get paid for his work.

For more window photos, have a look at Wild Daffodils post, I’m sure there will be brighter, sunnier photos!! If you’re interested in Skipton Castle, there’s lots of information on their website.