Warwick Castle – Castle Review

Built: 1068

Location: Warwick CV34 4QU

History: Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a bend of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-and-bailey castle was rebuilt in stone during the 12th century.

Review: So I’ve actually been to this castle only a couple of times.

The first time was on a school trip and I just remember thinking wow this place is huge! But then I think I was only seven at the time, so everything felt huge.

Don’t get me wrong, there is certainly a lot to see in this place and it is certainly a popular location.

It’s not exactly a quiet place to go explore, so it’s not the best place if you don’t like crowds.

I don’t mind crowds of people, but I much prefer places that I can explore without being surrounded by others.

Anyway, me and Luke decided to come to this place and make the most of having a day trip (I think we went in August 2019). We also managed to visit Kennilworth castle and have dinner with my grandparents that same day – it was a long day, but so worth it!

Finding Warwick castle is very easy, however, what I did not like was the fact that we had to pay £6 for parking (which you do when you leave), add that on top of the ticket prices that you have to pay and it is a VERY expensive day out.

Luckily if you are an English Heritage member, you can get half price entry, but it is still expensive, particularly as this is a place where people will bring their families. That’s a lot of money that people will have to pay for tickets.

Not only that, but I had also forgotten the long walk up to the castle. It’s about 15/20 minutes depending on how fast you walk, so make sure you bring all that you need.

This was the mistake I made, as for the first time ever – I left my coat in the car (BIG mistake). I was fooled by the fine weather and thought that it wouldn’t rain later that day. But I was so wrong. Anyway more on that later.

When you’ve made the journey up from the car park you’ll be greeted by this very impressive outer wall of the castle.

Just look how huge this place is!

The long walk is totally worth it, and I really loved the exterior of this castle. You can totally see how imposing this place would have been back in its glory days.

Once inside, there is a massive field that you can enjoy and have a picnic on if you wanted to (there are also plenty of grounds outside the castle as well).

We decided that we wanted to look at the rooms that Warwick Castle had to offer. You get to explore some Stately rooms inside the castle, and I have to say that they are very impressive.

Behind Warwick Castle’s mighty walls, lies the real heart of the Castle with the beautiful grand interiors.

The Great Hall is certainly something that you can marvel at. It is approximately 12 metres high, 19 metres long and 14 metres wide including the window bays and it is huge!

This is the first room that we went into and I couldn’t believe how impressive it was!

There is so much that you can look at, and I think me and Luke spent a good while in this room. It does get busy, but if you wait around it did empty eventually.

I would have loved to have stood in this room by myself though, just to get a true feel for how impressive it actually is.

This isn’t the only room that you can look at, there are so many lavishly decorated state rooms that you can explore.

It’s easy to walk through these rooms though, and each is as impressive as the next.

I honestly could not believe how incredible this place was.

I mean, just check out the state dining room below!

I felt so lucky to experience these rooms, and there were so many other ones to explore.

This isn’t a place that you can walk around quickly. You need to take your time and truly take in every piece (mainly because you need to get your money’s worth haha)!

One thing that I did really love though, is that when you looked out of the windows in one of the rooms (I can’t remember which, but I think it was the Great Hall), was that you could see the river behind the castle.

One of my favourite rooms though was the Earl’s private Chapel. This was a room of tranquility, but just felt so perfect.

This small chapel was commissioned by Sir Fulke Greville in the early 1600s. The chapel was the meeting place of the Earls of Warwick and their families every Sunday until the mid-20^th century.

I loved learning that over the years weddings, christenings, and funerals have taken place here.

You won’t be disappointed when you explore these rooms.

But this isn’t all that Warwick Castle has to offer. You’ve got the Time Tower, The Princess Tower and the Castle Dungeons. Now all three are things that you NEED to explore.

But I will give you a bit of warning about the Castle Dungeons.

Luke and I decided to try this attraction, because why not?

Now you will have to pay extra for this, and it’s not for the faint hearted. I do like these sort of things, and I have already done the London Dungeons and Amsterdam Dungeons (the London one is great fun, particularly as you can go on a water ride as well).

Now I really enjoyed Warwick Dungeons until one part, where there is a witch’s trial and they called me forward to stand on the box.

I was accused of witchcraft, and was told that I had been seen dancing naked on top of a hill, “with all my wobbly bits on display” (that’s a direct quote – yes I’m cringing so bad right now) and talking gibberish.

I stood in horror, hating that I was at the centre of it all and everyone was watching me.

I was then told that I conjured a man (the Judge then pointed to Luke behind me), but was then told that I was not a very good witch since I was only able to conjure up that.

I laughed, he laughed, everyone else laughed. Inside I was dying of embarrassment.

Having said that, it was still fun and I’d happily do it again.

But I’m just giving you all a bit of warning.

Anyway, we would have stayed longer and explored more of the castle after this, but then the heavens opened and you remember how I said that the car was parked a good 15/20 minutes away – yeah BIG MISTAKE.

I was soaked and cold and wet. It was horrible.

I ended up hiding in one of the toilets until it was over and I tried to dry myself off with one of the hand dryers, but it was pointless and it took ages for the rain to disappear.

Since I was soaked through and so was Luke to be honest, we decided to head back to the car and go on to our next adventure… Kenilworth Castle.

How I wish that we could go on another trip out like this.

But for now we’re staying safe and staying home! We’re not even spending this time together, as he is staying in his own home and I’m staying in mine. This sucks. Like it’s the worst. To make it even more horrible, last week was our anniversary, and although we FaceTimed, it still sucked.

Staying away and staying home is SO HARD, but I know that it needs to be done.

I hope you are all doing the same.

Sending you all much love and positive thoughts. If you find yourself struggling in this difficult time, please make sure to reach out to someone – friends, family, even a random blogger like me.

We’re all here to support one another. And we’ll all get through this together.