Summer's Castle

Summer's Castle.

The Summer's Castle had it's origin in Winter, with seeds being planted while Mother Nature slept just before the fingers of frost chilled the soil. The seeds slumbered in the cold earth, awaiting the Sun of Spring and it's warmth and the gentle rains. The earth was full of nutrients for those slumbering seeds, having been prepared at the end of the last harvest.
And like those seeds, the children, the Court of Summer's Castle, it's Kings and it's Queens, it's Knights and it's Ladies spent most of Winter dreaming of Spring and it’s gentle warmth and sweet rain. They dreamt the nights away and day dreamed of Summer and the fun it would bring. They dreamed and longed for Summer and the Castle they would rule. The elder children knew this would be their last time ruling in Summer's Castle. It would be their last year being Kings and Queens. Chores would take up most of the next year’s Summer and there were those who would leave the farms to seek knowledge, studying in the cities that had more to offer them. Some would return, but Summer would not hold the same splendour, and though they may gaze wistfully at the Castle their younger siblings would then rule, they knew that they would not wander it's grass floored halls again.
The elder children would show those younger brothers and sisters how to shape the Castle. They would make sure to teach them as they had been taught by their Fathers and Mothers and those Aunts and Uncles who in their childhood had ruled or served in Summer's Castle.

All watched and waited through Spring. One eye on their chores and one eye fixed on the fields of grass and together, all prayed that the combination of Spring sunshine and rain would be just right so the grass would grow fast and the grass would grow tall.
It was this grass that would grow to become what would be used to form Summer's Castle. The grass would grow, the grass would be cut and then the grass would be baled and would become hay. The hay would be fodder for the animals of the farms when Winter's frost would cause nothing fresh to sprout.
But until that time, and before the bales went into storage, they would sit under the Sun of Summer and would become, as they had for many years past, the walls of Summer's Castle.

Summer's Castle had first come to be built many generations past. Someone had eyed the great walls of hay, drying under the Summer sun and through imaginations eye, they became more than future fodder.

With each passing generation, the tradition of Summer's Castle had grown. Each generation attempted to make each Castle grander than the last. As well as the great blocks that were the hay bales, many bits and pieces were scrounged from surrounding farms and these were included in the construction of each and every Summer's Castle. Old doors became grand tables. Battered chairs were liberated from dusty tombs of barn storage. Old boards became flooring for second, third and even fourth stories as the Castle's design became grander with each passing generation. Old wedding dresses became the gowns for Castle Queens. Old sheets became cloaks for Kings and Knights alike. Moth eaten blankets became canopies to block out the Summer sun. Armour and weaponry were fashioned from whatever could be scrounged.

And all Summer, sieges were defended against, great Dragons were sent yelping off into the sunset and when night fell, great banquets were held and epic tales were told by torchlight.
Many sleepovers were held during those warm Summer nights and the stout hay bale walls kept any of the dark of night’s monsters at bay. All who stayed and slept within Summer's Castle took strength from that great monument to imagination.
A parent's harsh words, the loss of a treasured pet, a death in the family, all these trials and tribulations all seemed easier to bear with the sanctuary of Summer's Castle close at hand.
The Order of Summer's Castle, when they grew too old to ignore the duties of adulthood, all looked fondly back at their time spent there. All held in their heart a secret longing for those long hot days in Summer's Castle.
And all kept a promise that when they too had children, they would show them how to build that great Keep and would ensure the Order of Summer's Castle would live on again for another year.

Lawrence Cottam 2016