You know me, I love a good castle hunting expedition…or so I thought! All the photos I’d seen of Warwick Castle had me weak at the knees so when I decided to visit Warwickshire, Warwick Castle seemed a no brainer however it was exploring Warwick itself that had me smiling.
I arrived early at Warwick Castle (way before opening time!); strangely the night before when I was finally doing some research, I read that the castle could be a bit hit or miss for folks. Warwick Castle is part of Merlin Entertainment that runs The Dungeons, Madame Tussauds and Thorpe Park to name a few…this should have caused the warning bells to start along with the eye watering ticket price…£25.20 if bought on the day (which I stupidly did!)…my advice…don’t visit this castle if you love castles and only visit if you hold a Merlin Pass!
I’m going to say it right at the start, I personally think Warwick Castle is England’s most overrated and overpriced tourist attraction that I’ve ever visited!
As the castle wasn’t open, I decided to wander into Warwick, the town itself is only a few moments away…it’s rather cute…full of cheerful bunting…
…and has plenty of wobbly buildings to photograph….
…oh yes and doors…
…plenty of pretty doors and flowers…
…rainbow houses…
…little bricked lanes (seriously Brick Lane in London needs to sort it’s sh*t out!).
Unfortunately the museum held inside Lord Leycester Hospital wasn’t open either…I got on the road a tad too early…but it was still lovely to see the building from the outside…
…as it’s wobbly! What’s not to love really!
^^I’m going to put it out there…photographing wobbly buildings isn’t easy!
In my rush to leave the house early, I didn’t have breakfast so I thought it was perfectly reasonably to have afternoon tea at the Thomas Oken Tea Rooms for breakfast…at 10am…since we’re all friends, let’s just call it morning tea (and I wonder why I’m fat…porridge vs a tiered cake stand…hmmm let’s see which one I would choose!)…
…the Thomas Oken Tea Rooms are located right by the entrance of Warwick Castle in Warwick itself and if you’ve visited Warwick before, it’s in the old Dolls Museum…the building is wobbly (yes!)…
…and serves a bloody fine gluten free afternoon tea on request which I highly recommend!
I’ll give you a little close up of the cake stand…
…and the gluten free scones at Thomas Oken Tea Rooms passed my scone test with flying colours (they were easy to cut into, they didn’t break any teeth and they were scummy!).
Suddenly realising that Warwick Castle was finally open (I may have left half a scone behind!), I popped through the castle wall and into the grounds (after buying that silly priced ticket!)…
…the castle is magnificent from the outside however be prepared for lots of little people…you know the ones…they run wild and push to get you out of the way (I got pushed in the fanny area twice by the group of kids speaking Spanish and my feet where stood on by the English speaking ones)...you can start to see one reason why I didn’t enjoy Warwick Castle…
…entering the middle of the castle caused me to lose my breathe for a second…it was rather wonderful until I spotted the gift shop and food trailers…
…and then the map basically shows you why I hated Warwick Castle so much…they had cash machines on site and listed on the map?!?! WTF!?!?! It’s way tooooooo commercial!
The castle has had a major refurbishment and it does look good from the outside however I found the interior to be…TACKY…strangely quite a few people agreed with this statement when I posted about it on instagram after my visit…
…all those millions and you get things like this…
…and this…
…oh and Helen Mirren turned up in her Queen outfit!
I totally get that they have turned Warwick Castle into an English version of Disneyland (and to be fair I visited Disneyland last week and I didn’t find it anywhere near as tacky as Warwick Castle so that says something!)...they have dumbed things down for the kids and it’s very focussed towards families which is perfectly fine to get kids into learning about history etc…BUT DID YOU NEED TO WRECK A BEAUTIFUL CASTLE TO DO THIS!
^^Another perfect English summer…take a down jacket and sunhat wherever you go and that’s how an English summer should be!
There are some lovely areas in the castle, don’t get me wrong…
…like these areas…
however these are outnumbered by truly awful displays in others.
There are a number of events taking place around the castle during the day which made it impossible to get to some of the areas that I wanted to visit…
…I did feel like I was getting herded around the castle and left in under 45 minutes…that’s how much I didn’t enjoy my visit. I was hoping to have a wander around to take in the views like this one from the bedroom window but everything was blocked off!
Even seeing King Henry VIII didn’t cheer me up…and you know how much I love this naughty ol’ King…he would be on my “who would you have at your dinner party list, dead or alive”…King Henry VIII and Julie Andrews without a doubt…and thinking about things now, my family and as many of my ancestors that we could find…I normally cook enough to feed an army anyway…learning about history including your own family history is so important.
Okay so I didn’t love Warwick Castle however I did think Warwick was super cute and I had an extremely yummy afternoon tea at Thomas Oken Tea Rooms. I think I would head back to Warwickshire at some point in the future as I definitely picked the wrong place to explore this county; where would you recommend?
Travel Tips for Warwickshire
- I can’t recommend the Thomas Oken Tea Rooms in Warwick enough for their gluten free options, pop in for a visit and you won’t be disappointed.
- Take time to wander around Warwick as it’s a sweet little town with plenty of wobbly buildings to enjoy
- If you plan to visit Warwick Castle then look at finding discounted ticket prices or purchasing a Merlin Pass or book well in advance (do not pay £25.20 at the gate for entrance like me!)…it’s not a cheap day out. You can buy tickets online in advance which are cheaper – do this 5+ days in advance to get the best deal.
- Take flat comfortable shoes as there is some climbing to do around the castle
- There is plenty of parking at Warwick Castle
- If you want to spend a night at a castle then I would highly recommend staying at Thornbury Castle in Gloucestershire rather than at Warwick Castle; it’s totally worth it to be princess for a night!
- You can read more about Warwickshire at the official website.
xx
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