The elusive castle

Following advice from Kathy and Justin as to the most interesting nearby castle to visit, we set the sat nav for Powis Castle, just under two hours drive away.

Just before the castle, we stopped off at Greenhouse Café and Kitchen for a coffee and scone in a lovely setting next to a garden centre. Unfortunately it was just a little too early for lunch.

A 13th century medieval castle built by Welsh princes and later a military stronghold, Powis Castle sat on a rocky ridge, towering over extensive gardens.  Famous for its Italianate terraced gardens, we appreciated the expansive views from the terraces and wound our way past giant topiaries, budding tulips, and flourishing magnolias through the woodlands and past some interesting sculptures.  These included a giant foot and dragons standing watch over the pet cemetery.  

We then explored the castle with its impressive fresco ceilings and rooms endowed with numerous paintings of very important people.  

It was past lunchtime, so we stopped at the Inglenook café in Welshpool which had good reviews.  We had hoped for some soup, but settled for the local speciality of a bacon, Brie and cranberry panini.  A filling lunch that you only need to try once.

We had promised Mum that we would try and visit Harwarden castle, a grand mansion where my grandmother’s cousin once worked, and see if it had changed from the picture that hangs in Mum’s dining room.  

The Harwarden estate is home to an old castle from the 13th century with iron age origins and a newer 18th century castle that was once the home of Prime Minister William Gladstone.

The estate has been recently rejuvenated by the Gladstone family who have renovated the buildings and now rent part of the castle out as short term accommodation.  There is also a farm shop, restaurant and campsite as well as activities such as cold water swimming in the lake and flower arranging.

To ensure the privacy of guests, the estate has been completely fenced off.  We checked out the offerings of the farm shop then wandered through the café gardens to see if we could see the elusive castle.  Whilst we glimpsed part of the old castle, the wire fencing ensured that we could see nothing of the new.  

Back at the farm shop, we bought some sourdough bread and asked the assistant if there was anywhere we could see the castle.  She directed us into the village and advised we could walk into the grounds through the estate entrance opposite the pub.

We crawled through the late afternoon traffic, with only one side of the road open due to road works and parked near the pub. We entered through the grand gates and walked at speed towards the old castle which we could see ahead of us.  Unfortunately, that was as far as we could progress as the signage made it clear that it was private property. We asked a local walking their dog if there was any vantage point to see the “new” castle and he advised that there was not.  

After satisfying ourselves with a photo of the “old” castle, we returned to the car and headed onto Ramsbottom.  After quickly checking in to our AirBnb, we walked 5 minutes down the road to Morrisons and stocked up on supplies for dinner.  

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