Warwick Castle, the Avon and a Thousand Years of Fortification

Warwick sits about two hours north of London and rewards an early start, partly for the drive and partly because the castle fills up. What makes it different from most English castles is that it is intact: walls, towers, gatehouse, Great Hall and state rooms, all standing above a bend in the Avon. You can walk the ramparts from one tower to the next, and the view down onto the river is the picture everyone takes.

It also happens to be a genuinely good day out with children, which is not something one says about many medieval sites. There are daily displays in the grounds through the season, the towers are climbable, and the scale of the place holds attention. Adults tend to get more from the state rooms and the chapel. Either way, four hours passes quickly and the castle is designed to absorb it.

The town beneath is often skipped and should not be. Lord Leycester Hospital, a timbered fourteenth-century range beside the West Gate, is one of the finest surviving medieval buildings in the country. The Mill Garden, at the end of Mill Street, gives you the classic view back to the castle over the water. Both are five minutes on foot from where your chauffeur will set you down.

With a car for the day, the neighbours become possible. Kenilworth Castle, fifteen minutes north, is a ruin of enormous romance with Elizabethan gardens recreated in the grounds. Stratford-upon-Avon is twenty minutes south. We provide the vehicle and the chauffeur only — your chauffeur is not a licensed guide, admission is booked by you, and we can arrange a qualified guide to travel with you if you would like one.