September 10, 2009

Ten Castles

I was reading the Guardian, as usual, and they had a photo essay of the ten best castles in Great Britain. Of the ten, several were in Wales, which is a land of castles. The country is ringed on both the coast and inland by a ring of stone, which were the castles of Wales defending the country against invaders from the land and sea. Castles are used for fortifications and palaces are used for living – think Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.Caernarfon Castle

When I lived in Wales, I was lucky enough to live in St. Donat’s Castle, donats have friends who owned Fonmon Castle, fonmon_castle_main be a 15 minute drive from Caerphilly Castle caerphilly castle4 be in the same town as Cardiff Castle,Cardiff Castle1have a ghostly experience at White Castle,white castle

and spend the afternoon with the children at St. Fagan’s Castle. 7d 005

In addition, I passed the ruins of the Aberthaw Castle on my drive to work each day,  aberthaw castle saw a fairytale castle en route to London at Castle Coch,castle coch

spent the day in the Town of Books, Hay-on-Wye, with it's semi-abandoned Hay Castle,hay on wyeand explored the ruins of Ogmore Castle while spending the afternoon at the beach.ogmore at southerndownThose are just a few of the castles where I’ve been fortunate enough to be able pass significant time.  

12 comments:

  1. How beautiful! It's amazing to me that such places were once so numerous and that so many are still standing. Think of all the people who built them, lived in them, have been caretakers and visitors in the centuries they've been standing...

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  2. It simply amazing that these intricate structures built so long ago are still standing. I have never been to Whales, but have visited the castles in London. Thanks for the tour.

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  3. wonderful tour, Meg you should organize a jaunt over for your readers.GT

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  4. I think this is one of my favorite posts you've written Meg! Beautiful castles, and how lucky you were to spend time at each and every one!

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  5. Lucky you! They are enchanting, aren't they?

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  6. LA is right, a reader tour would be great. Failing that, I'm going to Wales next summer with a blog tour listing.

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  7. What a beautiful post and lovely experience. Hope that you have a great weekend!

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  8. They are ALL out of a fairy tale--thanks for the tour!

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  9. These are wonderful! And now I long to go back to the and tour... well, any castle!

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  10. I used to live at St. Donat's Castle too! What years were you there?

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  11. i followed the trail of breadcrumbs back here from your December post
    i've been drawing designs for my perfect we castle for years
    it has a certain similarity to Castle Coch
    and includes a walled garden
    and a staircase that doubles as a water feature on rainy days
    my room will be in the tallest tower
    but with bigger windows
    now all i have to do is write that airport novel
    to earn the dosh with which to begin construction....

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