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<\/a>Gerald Durrell and the Littlest, togged up in wellies and jackets, were happily marching through the mud and puddles whilst the Boy walked ahead with Father of the Tribe. \u00a0I stopped to read a sign and persuade the Littlest that her legs weren’t going to drop off and she really could walk a lot further and the Boy disappeared with his father around a corner. \u00a0As we rounded the corner I could see the Boy half way across a ford which was obviously quite high after the recent rain. \u00a0I suggested (read told) the other two that they were absolutely NOT to go through it but around it instead. \u00a0As the Boy walked out of the water I noticed that his jeans were somewhat darker above his wellies. \u00a0He then used me to balance as he took the wellies off one at a time and literally poured out the water that had accumulated in them. \u00a0Father of the Tribe and I stared in utter disbelief. \u00a0His wellies, socks and jeans were sodden. \u00a0We’d only just started walking! \u00a0Father of the Tribe said he would take him back to the car and leave me to take the other two to try and find the castle.<\/p>\n We walked across an open field and found outselves on the footpath running alongside the\u00a0Basingstoke Canal. \u00a0At this point the canal is very narrow. \u00a0As Father of the Tribe had the ma<\/p>\n p on his phone I had a 50 50 chance of going the right way. \u00a0Within 5 minutes of walking, Gerald Durrell wondered when we were going to find the castle – low and behold, there it was.<\/p>\n Knowing nothing about the castle, I was delighted to find that it had been built by King John, brother of Richard the Lionheart, between 1207 and 1214. \u00a0The history that we had discovered at Chinon in France over the summer was now finding its English links. \u00a0Originally built as a stronghold surrounded by several deep moats, it was mainly used as a hunting lodge. \u00a0As I\u00a0had previously found out, King John’s reign was turbulent and in 1215 the English Barons (with whom there was much hostility) persuaded King Philip of France to pressure King John into making fairer land and tax laws. \u00a0King John rode from Odiham to Runnymede and put his seal to the Magna Carta. \u00a0However little changed and the English barons called on Louis (King Philip’s son) and the French army to invade England. \u00a0In 1216 Louis attacked Odiham. \u00a0The siege lasted two weeks and when the English soldiers finally surrendered, the French were astonished to find that there were only 13 of them defending the cast.e. \u00a0Henry III, John’s son, became King in 1216 on the death of hi father and the new owner of Odiham Castle that he repaired. \u00a0In 1236 he gave it to his widowed sister, Eleanor of Pembrokeshire, who went on to marr<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>