Discover Britain: Warwick Castle

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Connor Estes
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  Recently, my wife and I decided to load the kids in the car and take a road trip to Warwick Castle, a beautiful fortress built in 1068 by William the Conqueror. Its history, however, dates all the way back to 914 when Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, ordered the building of an embankment to protect the small hill top settlement of Warwick from Danish invaders.

Warwick Castle is located on a sandstone bluff at a bend of the River Avon in the town of Warwick. From RAF Lakenheath it takes a little more than two hours to get there, and for us, it was well worth the time!

The price to get in to the castle is a little high compared to others, but you get a lot more for your money. Whereas most castles may offer a taped guided tour and that's about it, Warwick Castle offers almost a theme park experience which includes shows, costumed workers, and activities.

Not only are you free to explore the historic castle, there is a large playground which our children loved! They probably could have spent hours there, but we wanted them to experience more of the castle. Past the playground is a peaceful rose garden, which I'm sure is beautiful in the spring and summer.

The castle is huge and is truly an all-day experience. We have traveled to several castles in the last few months and this is by far the largest and most breath-taking! We could have spent another day there. The castle has towers, the mill and engine house, chapel, great hall, state rooms, the kingmaker and princess tower to name a few things.

The section of the castle named the kingmaker is an interesting experience. As you walk through, there are lifelike models dressed in period costumes to show what life was like in the castle during medieval times. Another popular stop, especially for girls, was the princess tower. The princess tower offers story times led by actors in period costume.

The central courtyard was unique because they had several events throughout the day to get children involved. There was a court jester who came out and performed magic tricks, a man walking around with a lifelike dragon puppet, and a "rat splat" activity where kids were able to throw fake rats through a tall hoop. The castle also had an archery center set up for an extra fee.

One other extra area that you can explore for a fee is the castle dungeon that we chose not to do because our children are small and we didn't want to scare them! This area may be fun for adults or older kids.

We also enjoyed walking around the grounds outside of the castle walls and along the water. It was very peaceful and there were gorgeous peacocks roaming free. There was also a neat birds of prey area set up.

Overall, I think that Warwick Castle is definitely worth the time to travel there and the price to get in. You get a full day's experience and there is something to offer the entire family. For those planning a visit, be sure to bring pounds or get some from the ATMs located before entering the grounds if you plan to eat at the food stands located throughout. There is also a sit down buffet available and gift shops that accept debit and credit cards.

There is a lot of walking and climbing so wear comfortable clothes and shoes! For those with babies and small children I wouldn't recommend strollers. They are not allowed in most buildings and the cobble stone walkways and hills make them hard to navigate. I would recommend a baby carrier or backpack. We definitely learned our lesson at this one!