Carreg Cennen

Built: Around the 13th Century

Location: Trapp, Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, South Wales

History: The site may well have been used by the Romans, as finds of Roman coins and even earlier skeletons have been made here.

Lord Rhys (Rhys of Deheubarth) built a more permanent castle here in the late 12th century, though it was taken by Edward I of England in his first Welsh campaign of 1277.

Review: When I visited this castle, I was with my parents and I remember as we were driving, we first thought that we were lost and then just as we came around a corner, there it stood. This magnificence castle on top of a cliff, looking every bit like a castle out of a fairy tale.

We knew then that we were at least heading in the right direction, and that my map reading skills weren’t lacking.

Anyway, Carreg Cennen is a little gem of a castle. I don’t know how well-known it is, but I didn’t know about it until I saw it on the map. I am so thrilled though that I spotted it because to this day it still is, by far, my favourite castle.

It really is worth a visit because it just looks so magical and it really is a wonderful place to explore.

PLUS it has an extra feature added on to it to make it even more special.

This extra feature is, that there is a cave running beneath it. The entrance to this cave is found within the castle.

It’s fairly easy to explore this cave, just bear in mind that some parts of the wall do stick out at odd angles. You most definitely do need a torch if you decide to explore the cave further and just as a tip, if you are bringing your own torch (as my father and I did), make sure that it has full batteries, or you’ll be stuck at the bottom with a torch that doesn’t work! Luckily there was another group of people who did have a fully working torch, otherwise, it would have been interesting to see us make our way back in the dark! Particularly when the walls and ceiling poke out!

We laugh about it now but it could have been a lot worse, it also doesn’t help that I’m afraid of the dark!

The castle itself is a fun place to explore – it’s not huge but it’s certainly easy to spend a few hours here. There’s the castle itself to explore, the surrounding land around it and the cave as well.

Lastly, there is a farm shop and cafe at the very bottom of the hill. (The hill mind isn’t very steep  but it a bit of a walk from the car park so please be wary if you can’t walk very far or are pushing a pushchair or something).

This is a castle which people need to see. It is spectacular and I have very fond and memberable memories about it.

The feature picture is taken from http://www.cwmshoncottageswales.co.uk/out-and-about/castles