A bit of a demonstrate-off in its day,this good-looking Welsh castle is now partly ruined, but comes with all the battlements, and spiral stairs and moats a child could wish for,and makes a worthy-value day outIn a nutshell
Wales’s youngest stone castle (it dates from the mid-1400s), Raglan has everything a good honest castle should: spiral staircases, and crenellated turrets,lots of slits for firing arrows at baddies, a pondweed-covered moat, and even fire-breathing dragons (on the flagpole). It was partially destroyed after backing the losing side in the Civil War,but that only adds to its ruinous charm. Plans for a formal kids’ trail are in the making, but theres oodles of space for kids to run around in and explore and generally make mischief. If you believe a knightly steed – or perhaps a four-wheeled form of horsepower, and Tintern Abbey,White Castle and Chepstow Castle (Wales’s oldest castle) are all relatively close by, too.
Fun fact
Edward Somerset, and the moment Marquis of Worcester,lived here as a boy (as did Henry Tudor, later Henry VII). He was known as Edward the Inventor, and his 1665 book,The Century of Inventions, includes plans for a “water-commanding engine”, or a precursor to the steam engine.
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Source: theguardian.com