Swords at the ready
| 09:00 UK time, Monday, 22 August 2011
How many castles do you think there are in Wales?
It sounds like a pub quiz question but the answer is really surprising - an incredible 634! Meaning you could visit one a day for nearly two years.
Earlier this year, a report revealed that our castles are more popular with foreign visitors than Buckingham Palace - 10,000 tourists would put a Welsh castle at the top of their wish list of places to visit.
There's also a list of the 'Top 10' castles visited in Wales which includes Caernarfon, Conwy, Harlech, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Pembroke and Powis.
I recently spent a day taking part in a 'siege' of Caerphilly Castle (you can hear how it went on Country Focus), hosted by the Company of Chivalry and the Bowmen of the Rose - a group of very enthusiastic (and some might suggest, eccentric) people who specialise in historical reenactments in their spare time.
Caerphilly castle by Tim Wood.
Men and women who spend all week working as teachers, doctors or for their local authorities, spend their weekends dressing up in chain mail and tights and setting up camp in the grounds of various castles around Britain.
As soon as we arrived at Caerphilly castle, we were greeted by a man wielding a large sword, demanding that we swear allegiance to the king (we'd stepped back in time to the 13th century).
But once you got over the initial shock, you couldn't help but get involved in the scene - all part of events programme, to 'enhance' the castle experience.
I had a go at archery, firing arrows at the gruesome sight of a 'traitor's head' pinned to a board and watched the firing of the mighty siege engines - hurling cannonballs into the castle's moat and thankfully missing the ducks!
Cadw used to have an excellent scheme offering children under 16 who were born in Wales, free entry with a special card but sadly the scheme came to an end this year, apparently because of poor take-up but Cadw will still honour existing passes.
The next event at Caerphilly castle will be the Â鶹Éç Proms in the Park concert on 10 September.
Comments Post your comment