Welsh Castles

Let's face it Wales wouldn't be Wales without castles, William the Conquerer found England a bit of a push over but it took his Norman descendents another two hundred years to fully subdue the war like Welsh. Hence Wales has some 500 castles the highest per head of population anywhere in the world. Two corkers outside Cardiff are:

Castell Coch (Welsh for Red Castle)

This beautiful little fairly tale castle sits on a hillside just 4 miles north of the city. This Castle has medieval foundations and was built by Gilbert de Clare from Old Red Sandstone - hence Red Castle. But like many others it fell into ruin, but it was rescued in 1875 by the Marquis of Bute one of the richest men in the world who together with his Architect transformed it into a beautiful highly decorated gothic fantasy, a smaller version of Cardiff Castle where he lived down the road. It took them 25 years to build it and he never spent a night there.

Open 7 days a week

• Click here for reviews of Castell Coch.
• Click here for the official site.

Caerphilly Castle

Situated some 8 miles from Cardiff is the sleeping giant of Caerphilly Castle - the second biggest castle in Britain after Winsor. This Castle has everything you could want, surrounded by a huge moat, with arrow slits, portcullises, drawbridges and murder holes this is a state of the art 13c fortress.

There's a highly recommended audio tour, and other exhibitions, which take you, threw the history of this medieval colossus - there's even a collection of working siege engines.

• Click here for reviews of Caerphilly Castle.
• Click here for the official site.