Now Cilgerran was a slight cheat as we actually visited it before we had set our hearts and minds (as the politicians say) on the castle challenge. We were camping in Wales and decided to pay Cilgerran a visit as we 'quite liked castles (little did I know, where this would lead).
But as we went together, we're counting it as our first castle of the challenge. So Pembrokeshire is where our castle journey began. The visit took place in June 2009.
Cilgerran is a 13th century castle ruin and overlooks the Telfi Gorge. The views really were stunning. Apparently little coracle boats used to travel up and down the river. We also saw these on a river near our campsite called Salmon Falls.
It's managed by the National Trust and we were both pleasantly surprised how much of the castle was accessible.
There were loads of turrets, walkways, secret paths up walls etc.
You could walk along the walls and peer through the holes where I assume a bow and arrow would have been poking out.
The history books say a castle was first built on this site by the Normans, but the current masonry castle style was probably created by William Marshal who was the Earl of Pembroke.
On a side note, we stayed on a delightful campsite in Cenarth, a tiny little village, and they won a 'loo of the year award' which was literally why I chose them. I have a fear about what I might find in dirty public toilets.
Cost: the bargain price of £3.50 for adults.
Hints and tips: The castle lived in a little village and I remember parking being a slight issue but we just found somewhere and walked back to the castle, not a huge problem.
If you want to know more about our castle challenge, check out my first blog post.
