Two nights at Gwydir Castle

I’m aware that I’ve not been blogging as frequently as usual… apologies but I’ve been doing a lot of reading rather than writing!  It’s lovely to indulge in a reading frenzy now and again.  I’ve got lots of books to catch up on and review for you, so watch this space…

The other explanation for being out of action is my recent visit to North Wales’s Gwydir Castle: the setting for the rather wonderful Castles in the Air by Judy Corbett, which I reviewed a few months ago.

Castles in the Air

In the book, Judy describes how she and her now husband Peter discovered, bought and saved this  Tudor castle from a terrible fate as a disco.  Today the building has been lovingly restored and while it is the couple’s home, it is also open to the public, for wedding hire or for a very small number of B&B guests.

If you read my review you’ll know that I loved the book, and being a romantic at heart (in the original sense of the word) I desperately wanted to visit it.  Mr Brontë Sister, being a romantic in both senses of the word, went one better and booked us in to actually stay there for two nights!  Needless to say I was excited…

When we arrived (we were the only guests during those two days), we were greeted by Judy and led through the huge gate, past the courtyard and into the castle, up a creaking staircase and into the King’s Room.  The atmosphere in the place is amazing and you truly feel the history oozing from every surface – the bedroom featured a four-poster bed, a tapestry on the wall, and antique furniture dotted around.  Honestly, after being shown the grandeur of the room I was a little worried it and we would be on show to the public the next day!

A detail of the castle seen from the courtyard

Gwydir Castle is apparently one of the most haunted locations in the UK, but I can report that we saw no ghosts.  I couldn’t have dreamt up a more perfect setting for one though. At night, with rogue floorboards creaking into an otherwise deathly silence with pitch black darkness all around, it’s easy for your mind to turn to the supernatural.  So easy in fact that someone made us sleep with the light on…

Anyway, atmospheric, beautiful, timeless… that’s Gwydir.  I wasn’t intending to write a full travel review (i.e. I won’t go on or this will be a boringly long post) but I felt I had to share.  Being queen for two days and eating breakfast in a panelled room with views out over the grounds was very special.  We had a lovely time and we’ll definitely be back.

Our view of the castle grounds from the breakfast parlour

We didn’t take many photos as you can’t help being struck by the fact that this is more of a home than a house open to the public (even though it’s that too).  We couldn’t have been made more welcome, but we tried to be sensitive to the owners’ wishes too.  All the photos here are from the castle’s website – click here to visit it if you’re interested in more info and photos, or to buy any of Judy’s books.

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