Hastings Caste: East Sussex, England

Number 9 - Hastings Castle


We visited Hastings castle in October 2011. Venturing through an olde worldy arcade to buy our tickets, we then rode a cable car to the top of the cliff. 

 

It was quite a fun way to access the castle, and once we got up there I was really impressed by what we found. The castle was a beautiful ruin, overlooking the sea. 

 

In 1287 there were serious storms that battered the cliffs and some of them eroded, which resulted in large sections of the castle falling into the sea. The castle was left to ruin when Henry VIII was made King as he thought all catholic institutions should be destroyed. Bloody Henry VIII caused loads of trouble didn't he?

We liked the archways, many of which were still in tact. And being so close to sea it was easy to understand how this castle was positioned to defend people from enemies approaching by boat. 

We wandered down to where we think the dungeons would have been. 

Following our trip to Pevensey, we did a bit of method acting to imagine what it could have been like.

We also walked along bits of the castle wall and explored all the nooks and crannies.

If you've not been before, Hastings is worth a visit. It has a nice old town with good restaurants and a sweet little seafront promenade. The town centre itself has had a lot of money spent on it so worth a wander. Plus it's close to Rye which is beautiful as well.

Cost: £7 approx

Hints and tips: It's on a cliff edge, so can get quite windy, worth wrapping up warm.

Want to know what possessed us to visit Hastings castle? Read more about our castle challenge.

Lewes Castle: East Sussex, England

Number 8 - Lewes castle

Lewes was a real gem. It's based in the middle of Lewes town centre, kind of behind the high street. If you've not been to lewes before, it's worth a visit. Lovely little vintage and antique shops, independent boutiques and sweet cafes and restaurants. 

When we got to the castle you could see straight way it was going to be good. Lots of turrets, walkways and gorgeous gardens. You could even buy weeds.... though why you'd want to do that, I don't know. 

As an added bonus, there was a musician rehearsing for a concert which was happening that night in the gardens, so we got to listen to some beautiful guitar music as we wandered round.

 

Lewes castle is run by Sussex Past, it's a 1000 year old Norman castle and we visited it on a lovely day in July 2011. It's in pretty good nic considering how old it is. 

Once in the main part of the castle, it snaked round to a mound which took you higher and higher. At the top another separate bit of the castle appeared. It's much bigger than it first looks and there is lots to see and admire.

To be honest, the main highlight of the trip came when we happened upon a dressing up and props room with gowns, furs, and a fake catapult. 

 

It was a dream come true, and yes, we tried as much on as possible before any little kiddywinks interrupted us.

Cost: £7 approx

Hints and tips: There isn't a car park so you'll need to park in Lewes, take some loose change with you.

If you want to know more about why we're doing this, read my first blog!

Bolebroke Castle: Kent, England

Number 7 - Bolebroke Castle

What a lovely time was had at Bolebroke Castle in July 2011. 

We were camping at a rather brilliant camp site near Ashdown Forest where we had marshmallows over the fire and were able to fish, which Chloe's other half really enjoys.

We discovered Bolebroke was relatively close so decided to pay it a visit. We parked nearby and walked up the lane.

It looked more like a house than a castle, and I think they do B&B, though I can't comment on how good this is as we didn't stay there. The building itself seemed to have lots of varying elements which looked like they had been built at different points over time. Apparently Henry VIII used to stay there, he got around didn't he?!

The castle had a mini railway which we decided to have a little go on. We were the only ones there so were treated like guests of honour. It took us on a journey all round the grounds, passed a huge lake, and was pretty darn fun!

We didn't go inside the castle as we didn't need any grub, and it seemed to be a working restaurant. But it had beautiful grounds and was lovely from the outside.

Being Winnie the Pooh territory, we also went to place where the characters played Pooh sticks in the A.A. Milne's stories, which was rather delightful. 

Cost: We didn't actually go inside the castle itself, so the only payout was on the mini railway.

Hints and tips: I think you'd need to do something at the castle, whether that is eat or go on the mini train, in order to justify being there. You couldn't just wander round without doing that I don't think.

Bramber castle: West Sussex, England

Number 6 - Bramber Castle


Oh Bramber, it was a bit of a 'nothing' castle. But we have to do them all on this challenge so it needed to be done. There's nothing wrong with a ruin, I love a ruin normally, but this was very minimal.

We visited Bramber in April 2011. We'd spent the first part of the day at a dress shop in the lovely little village of Steyning trying to find Chloe a bridesmaid dress for my wedding. We had cheese toasties in this adorable little tea room - the village is definitely worth paying a visit. We'd done a bit of advanced research, in case we could combine our trip with a castle visit, and we found Bramber was located pretty close by.

Bramber is managed by the English Heritage, but I use the term 'managed' loosely as I doubt they have to do much other than mow the grass. Essentially all it was, was one wall of the tower, nothing else was really left apart from a few bricks and boulders scattered around. There was a huge mound which I think would have been man made so people could see the army approaching.

It was a Norman castle on the banks of the river Adur. I guess if the weather was nice we could have taken some grub but it was a bit murky so we just skidaddled off once we'd done a quick walk round.

Cost: Free, which was a relief as we were done after about 2 minutes.

Hint and tips: Unless you're on a castle challenge I am not sure I would bother. Though the location is in a nice setting for other local towns and villages.

Farleigh Hungerford Castle: From, Somerset

Number 5: Farleigh Hungerford Castle

Having visited Nunney earlier on the same day, we headed off to Farleigh Castle. However the snow and ice delayed our journey and we got there very close to closing time. I think the woman felt sorry for us so she let us in for free to run around, literally. 

It was November 2010 and the weather was dreadful. We were all wrapped up and had to move quickly. It was a shame as Farleigh Hungerford was bigger than we thought with lots of bits we could have pondered over, but we were on a deadline.

It was set in a really beautiful area in the valley of the river Frome, near Bath. The views were great and you could see it was well positioned to see where the enemy was coming from. 

It was built in the 14th century but then lived in for 300 years by the Hungerford family. They had a pretty gruesome past and you could learn about it with an audio guide, not that we had time for that on this visit!

I really liked the chapel where there was artwork and tombs you could explore. Also the crypt with a barrel load of coffins, all a bit grim.

I wish we'd had longer to spend at this castle, but we didn't, so that's that.

Costs: £4 approx

Hints and tips: There was a car park, though I think we got lost a few times trying to find it.

Want to find out more about why we're doing this challenge? Take a look at my first blog post.

Nunney Castle: Frome, Somerset

Number 4 - Nunney Castle


Nunney Castle was a very pleasant surprise. 

Chloe and myself were on a mini trip to Bath to visit a woman who I was hoping was going to make me a headband to wear for my wedding. We thought we may as well squeeze a couple of castles in while there.

We went in November 2010 and the weather was very frosty. When I say 'frosty' it was full on snow and the roads were icy. This made Chloe nervous, so I drove. The car was skidding about all over the place, we should have turned back.... we didn't.

We got to the village of Nunney and I thought we must of gone wrong. Most of the castles we'd seen so far were in fields away from the towns, but the sat nav directed us right into the middle of this adorable little village. The castle was behind a church and I fell in love as soon as I saw it. It was more of a big house than a castle with loads of sections. From the back it looked in pretty good condition, but when you got round the front half of it was gone - really striking!

It had a moat, though this was frozen. Apparently it was built in the 1300s by a Knight who the King liked. It was Christmas 1910 when the wall fell apart. It's managed by the English Heritage.

We slipped and slid over the icy drawbridge to get a good photo of us at the front. You can't spend long there, after walking round for about 10 minutes we'd looked at every inch of it. So we set off for some soup/home made quiche in one of the gorgeous village restaurants.

Cost: Freeeeeeeeeeeeee

Hints and tips: there isn't much to see in the castle itself so it'd be a quick (but lovely) trip. Parking in the village and then walking round would be best.

Want to find out why we're doing this challenge? Check out my first blog post.

Pevensey Castle: East Sussex, England

Number 3 - Pevensey Castle

We visited Pevensey castle in September 2010. 

To be honest, from the outside it doesn't look like much. I'd spent quite a bit of time there as a child and just thought it was an old crumbling wall and a huge field. But what I didn't know, was there was an actual castle bit in the middle of this area and that had a few pretty jazzy things.

For one, there was a pyramid of, what I can only assume were boulders, all joined together. I tried lifting them without any success.

The castle was about in the 4th century, so amazing any of it is still standing to be honest. It was the last and strongest Roman fort and was where William the Conqueror and his army landed in 1066.

You could climb up the walls and stand on the wooden platform which had a great view of the outer castle walls.

We were given an audio guide when we went in. It gave lots of interesting information especially as we descended the spiral staircase to the dungeon. 

 

They had actors doing little pieces as if they were alive way back when, as we entered the dungeon the prisoner on the audio recording started telling us what it was like down there. His monologue finished, with 'help me, heeeeeelp meeeee', we power walked up those stairs pretty sharpish.

 

It's not got the structure or beauty of somewhere like Bodium, or the number of activities, but we still had a lovely time. 

The weather was a bit windy on our visit but you could have a nice relaxed picnic if the sun was out. We went in, over a wooden drawbridge, and decided to go all out and get the audio devices that tell you the history of the castle.

Cost: £5 approx

Hints and tips: There weren't any places to eat or anything but it is in the village of Pevensey which has some nice pubs and restaurants.

If you want to find out why we're visiting all these castles, check out my first blog.