Reviews written in capitals are written by Brian all others written by Tanya.
We live in Cheltenham...
Reviews written in capitals are written by Brian all others written by Tanya.
We live in Cheltenham with our children Courtney 7, Oliver 4 and Samuel 11 weeks.
Member since:25.01.2004
Reviews:50
Members who trust:14
We went on an outing to Warwick Castle, which I was very interested in as it has loads of History, it was a great day out and living not to far away from Warwick Castle we thought we would go So I thought id share my experience with you and try to explain the best I can about the Castle and my day out there.
Warwick Castle is in Warwickshire, which is near Coventry and about 20 minutes from Stratford Upon Avon. It took us about an hour and a half to get there from Cheltenham, but we did have a little stop on the way.
You can easily get the train, I believe you can get combined rail and entry packages that are available to buy at the train stations. Warwick train station is about a mile away, so its in walking distance to and from the castle.
Once we arrived at the Castle the car park was limited but there is parking in Warwick town too. You do have to pay for parking aswell. The Castle is very well signposted so it wasn’t to hard too find.
There are different prices for admission, it depends if you go when it’s standard, off peak and peak times.
We went when it was standard charges Adult £12.50, Children (4-16 years) £7.95, senior £9.25, Students £9.75, Family tickets (2 Adults, 2 Children) £36.00, people who are wheelchair users get in free of charge. You get discounts on group booking over 20 but you do have to pre-book for discounts. There’s discount for school trips too You can also book tickets over the Internet, they have to be made 5 working day before hand.
There are Annual passes you can buy, there are two different types of annual passes. Warwick Castle Privilege Pass or the Tussauds Annual Pass.
The castle opens at 10am – 6pm (April to September) then the times would change slightly.
Okay so we have paid to get in the first we bought a souvenir guidebook that cost £3.95, which is worth it, I found it helpful to get around the castle.
We started to look around the castle you start off at.
GATEHOUSE & BARBICAN This was the first likely place to be attacked, For those who were lucky to get past would have to battle there way down the gatehouse through crossfire they would be up against portcullis which had murder holes that things like stones, missiles would fall down on them. Also it had narrow arrow slits to shot out at them.
DEATH OR GLORY (ARMOURY) This is in the southeast wall of the castle, this is where the weapons are dating back many many years ago. Some of the weapons were swords, guns, and cannons. The room is full of the type of weapons and armour that would have been used throughout the history of the castle from its earliest days to the 1800’s.
ROYAL WEEKEND PARTY This was my favourite it was amazing!! This has 2 floors. There were waxworks so you could get the feel of what it was like back in 1898. It actually felt weird to be there. It is from the photographs just like how it was back then. Countess of Warwick (Daisy) hosted a weekend party here, so let yourself go back in time and feel like you were actually there.
CHAPEL, GREAT HALL This is also in the main part of the ‘Royal weekend party’ building. It’s the biggest part of the Castle. The hall was 1st built in 14th century it had to be restored around 1871 because of a fire which badly damaged it. This was used for the dining area. The chapel is said to have been built on another chapel.
GHOST TOWER Was built in the 14th century it was too guard off enemies that were approaching from the river. The reason why they call it the Ghost Tower is it is still said that Sir Fulke Greville still haunts his tower. Sir Fulke Greville was killed in 1628, and died 27 days later after Ralph Haywood (one of his servants) killed him. They were arguing over Sir Fulke Greville will. When Sir Fulke Greville died Ralph Haywood took his own life as he realised what would of happened to him after the killing.
Its spooky as it has ghost music playing, the music is enough for me let along the thought of a Ghost. My limit is Casper im afraid.
THE MOUND This was an important part a long time ago it was to defend. William the Conqueror ordered to build it in1068.
BEAR AND CLARENCE TOWERS This was very nice once walking up the loads of steps, but one bit of advice don’t look down. One mistake I made was to look down. But the views were wonderful. You get to Caesars tower this way, you will be able to see the bridge that would have been built to the gatehouse.
GUYS TOWER This was built in the 14th century, this was a good main part of defence as you can look out from above, so giving the archers full view. The top of it was the guardroom. In the Civil war, cannons faced out of the windows.
GROUNDS OF THE CASTLE Also in the grounds of the castle you can visit. It really is a lovely place to walk around, the Victorian rose garden was lovely, With the conservatory and peacock garden. The river Avon runs alongside. We really enjoyed the walk around looking at the beautiful scenery.
MILL AND ENGINE HOUSE This is a interesting place, it showed us how electricity was bought into Warwick Castle powered by water and very big cogs.
FACILITIES Hot meals are available, along with light snacks, cream teas. There are 2 restaurants to choose to eat in. There is a nice picnic area, in the summer there is an outdoor BBQ, obviously weather permitting.
There are gift shops to visit to get themed gifts from. We bought a guidebook set, which was about £6.00, and we bought a jester hat, which was £8.00. I thought it was very expensive in the gift shops, but we promised to bring back our daughter something.
You can get a audio tour (languages available are English, Japanese, French, German) They last about an hour and cost £2.95
Toilet facilities are available. No dogs are allowed in the Castle, apart from Registered dogs.
We really did enjoy the day out, we learnt so much. It probably wont be something we would do again until our children were older and wanted to go. Its expensive day out I thought, but well worth it.
A big disadvantage would have to be that for people who are in a wheelchair the attractions inside have steps at the entrance and exits, the corridors are very narrow too making it not possible to access.
I think you would have to give yourself half a day to properly look around Warwick Castle it really is very interesting. I don’t think it’s for young children, as I know my 2 would get totally bored. It’s more for older children.
Also wear comfy shoes for this as there is a lot of walking about to do, and some of the steps are uneven.
There are lots of different events going on throughout the year which looks great, They cost a lot more, good one to check out as they have a few things on every month.
After you have looked around the Castle there is always Warwick town to go look around, but if anyone’s like me, all the walking around the castle was enough for me, so I was too tired to walk anymore.
I did sleep very well that night though haha!
Customer Information Warwick Castle Warwick Warwickshire England CV34 4QU
www.warwick-castle.co.uk
Thank you for reading Tanya
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I enjoyed it here! we went in the summer and there were actors in costume walking around and there was a wild bird show which was great! good review! :) x
MAFARRIMOND 01.01.2005 19:47
A really interesting place to visit but it is oh so tiring. Maureen
jennybosson 27.07.2004 13:10
I loved my visit to Warwick castle. I lovd the jousting they had there. Hussar my Lord! Great day out and great review. jen :o)
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Advantages: Beautiful grounds, lots to see outside, a very popular 'must go to' tourist attraction Disadvantages: Can get extremely busy, expensive tickets (dungeon is additional)
gothic_moon 06.09.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Warwick Castle
Advantages: Beautiful grounds, lots to see outside, a very popular 'must go to' tourist attraction Disadvantages: Can get extremely busy, expensive tickets (dungeon is additional)
gothic_moon 06.09.2009 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Warwick Castle
Advantages: Nice scenery on a sunny day, plenty of picnic areas & easy to get to Disadvantages: Too expensive, you have to pay cash for everything & the entertainment is poor
gemax2 16.06.2009 ·
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Review of Warwick Castle
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