Wanderings and Ramblings : Caerphilly Castle--THIS is the stuff childhood dreams and legend are made of

Like many children, I grew up on a steady diet of adventure books and stories. I gobbled up tales of Robin Hood, King Arthur, The Three Musketeers, The Chronicles of Narnia and any other adventure that let my imagination be filled with deep forests, dragons, knights and castles. Little was more fun for me than grabbing a stick and a trash can lid and having a sword fight with friends (foes at the moment) or traipsing about in the woods pretending to evade King Richard, a quiver full of sticks (arrows) slung over my shoulder.
Castles figured heavily in those stories and make believe games--and they were always large, imposing structures with high towers, thick walls and moats. Which, as it turns out, is not the form taken by many of the actual castles here in Europe (Kornberg Castle outside of Copenhagen being the first I have seen that really lived up to that image).
So it was with great joy that I first gazed upon Caerphilly Castle, sitting in a little dip right in the center of the Welsh town of Caerphilly--directly across from a large chain grocery store, as if it is not a WORLD CLASS attraction, the second largest castle in all of Britain (Windsor Castle being larger) and largest in Wales.

Caerphilly Castles sits in it's huge expanse of grass, surrounded by two water filled moats and absolutely looks the part of a fairy tale castle. It's so massive that I could not capture the whole effect in one photo: I think you'd need a helicopter to do that.

After crossing over the first moat, and through the first set of pointed gates, you find your way blocked by a modern stained glass gate. This is the point at which you are directed into the small gift shop area to buy your tickets and exit if on the inside of the gate. Tickets are 5.50 GBP; I applaud the Welsh government for keeping prices reasonable and fair.

The castle is built on a surface that is not as strong as it should be, as a result over the years pieces have shifted and pulled apart, resulting in cracks--the most obvious being this tower that was pulled apart and now leans at an angle sharper than the tower in Pisa.

This massive structure (it covers about 30 acres) was built almost entirely in THREE years between 1268 and 1271! I find this absolutely mind boggling. Even in modern times I would be surprised if such a huge undertaking could be completed in so short a time (even the moats were dug out in that three year span), but all accounts I find agree this is the case. Only the chapel was a later addition.

Exploring the castle is done at your own pace. You're given a map, and there are a few signs here and there with some information (though not a whole lot). Once in a while some "special effects" have been put in: things like a projection of a fire in the fireplace in the great hall, along with the sound of the flames crackling and people talking merrily, a similar projection of the shadow of the great, pointed, iron gates being raised in the room above the entry arch, with the sound of the metal as it is pulled up, etc These are surprisingly effective and really bring it to life without feeling cheesy at all.

We all absolutely loved Caerphilly Castle (and we saw blue sky for the first time in the trip! Though the wind did not taper off for another day). I took loads of photos and I have decided to include virtually all of them here because this castle is just so awesome. If any of my friends, especially the Americans or Aussies who are coming from so far away to get there at all, plan trips to London, I strongly urge you to look into adding enough time to get out to Wales, preferably overnight and add in seeing this castle, as well as The Big Pit coal mine and museum (more on that in another blog post) and if you have Doctor Who fans among you, you could add in the Experience as well. Really, it is worth taking the extra time.

Yes, this is the royal toilet (there were two actually, on either side of the ballroom)

It was too windy to fly the flags that day, thus the empty pole

The chapel on the right is the newer section added considerably later than the rest; the only main thing not completed in those first 3 years

Inside the chapel (as well as the 2 photos below)

Notice how thick those walls are, looking out of the window!

The all important well, right in the middle of the fortress

These exhibits were really quite interesting as well

I find it astounding that this castle is such a well kept secret. OK, we were there on a chilly and windy day, but as you can see from the many photos, we were some of the only people there (one little boy with his grandfather and one other couple were it for 90% of our time). I wonder if being used in the BBC show Merlin (one we really like, by the way) will change that at all?

Amazingly, there is not a single tourist shop on the outskirts (and that huge grocery store is right there), but there is one local tea ship (which takes cash only, a rarity in Britain, so be forewarned) where we stopped for a snack on our way out. It seemed to cater as much to locals as tourists and prices were low: tea for three, a large scone with cream and jam for me, blackberry tart with ice cream for Marika and a bowl of Welsh Cawl (lamb stew) for David came to 13 pounds in total, and we had a view of the castle right out of the widow!