Fantasy writers, like myself, often draw heavily from history, especially from the medieval period. With all its sword, bows, castles, and noble lords and ladies, it’s perfectly suited to the fantasy genre. But sometimes it can be hard to visualise what life would actually have been like in those times. To get the correct facts and the authentic feel often involves at least some research. Thankfully however, we have the internet, which makes researching much easier.

Recently, I discovered an amazing resource for information about life in medieval times. And that is a TV series, available on YouTube, called ‘Secrets of the Castle’. The series is focused around an archaeological experiment of building an authentic medieval castle. This series is full on interesting information about not only castes and how to build them, but about the trades involved with the building such as blacksmithing and masonry, and also showcases some of the war machines. I haven’t yet seen the entire series, but I’ve already learned a whole bunch of things about life in the medieval period that I know will help my writing in the future.

If you’re looking for information on life in the medieval period, want to learn more about trades like blacksmithing, or are interesting in seeing a real castle and how they were built and decorated, you might like to check out this series. They’re highly informative and very entertaining as well. Theirs is nothing like actually seeing a castle, weapons, and a medieval village to help you get a real feel for what life might have been like back then. You can find the first episode down below, and the rest are freely available on YouTube.

Do you do research for your books? What writing resource have you discovered? And are you interested in seeing more resource recommendations from me in the future?