Sunday 29 May 2011

Chirk Castle.................................................................. from the outside

I had a lovely day on Saturday visiting Chirk Castle in Wales.
Not far from home just a round trip of about 60 miles.
As a member of the National Trust and for an annual fee of about £50 you get entry into some amazing properties.
This year I intend to make the most of my membership.
  Completed in 1310 Chirk is the last Welsh castle from the reign of Edward I that is still lived in today.
Features from its 700 year history include a medieval tower, dungeon, 17th-century Long Gallery, and the grand 18th-century state apartments.
The award-winning gardens contain clipped yews, herbaceous borders, shrub and rock gardens.
The gardens are lovely to walk around
A terrace with stunning views looks out over the Cheshire and Shropshire plains.
The hill in the centre is Beeston Castle from my walk a couple of weeks ago.
A "guard" showing the kids how to use the pike... they were very aggressive.
It was very entertaining.
The parkland provides a habitat for rare invertebrates, wild flowers and contains many mature trees and also the splendid wrought-iron gates, made in 1719 by the Davies brothers.

My next post will show the interior of this lovely castle.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post Andrew!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

TexWisGirl said...

beautiful grounds. the kids made me laugh. :)

Hilke Breder said...

Touring those old castles - I envy you, Andrew. What must it be like to live in a castle built in 1310? The gardens are beautiful!

Jim said...

Amazing place Andrew. Thanks for sharing. And what a 'good deal'/opportunity to have a chance to see these places. Makes things 'over here' appear very young indeed.
jim