Penrhyn Castle, June 2024

Armed once again with a free Sunday, full tank of unleaded and a National Trust pass, we ventured out of the house to explore Penrhyn Castle & Gardens in Bangor, North Wales.

Heading out from our base in the Wrexham area, it’s a great drive along the North Wales coastline to get to Penrhyn Castle and you’ll pass by several other castles on the way, so it was kind of a Castle Roadtrip today!

We passed by Bodelwyddan Castle near Rhyl and Gwyrch Castle – which you might know as the UK home of “I’m A Celebrity…” for a couple of series during Covid times. We also saw signs for Denbigh Castle and Rhuddlan Castle, and we were so close to Conwy Castle before we arrived in Bangor.

As you approach Penrhyn Castle from the road, you can see it nestled amongst the trees in the hillside, and it looks picture perfect in its surroundings. Further into the town, and the entrance to the castle is a gateway through the walls on the side of the road that I nearly missed. Not sure how though, as when you drive through it’s quite impressive!

You drive along a tree-lined path that made me feel like I was back in Center Parcs, which heads up towards the car park and visitor’s centre. We parked up and made our way over. Parking at Penrhyn Castle is free, and there are toilets outside the visitor centre too, so we freshened up before heading in.

To get into Penrhyn Castle, Prices start from £15 per adult, £7.50 per child and £37.50 for a family ticket. Slightly dearer for gift aid tickets. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we have a National Trust family pass costing £159, which is definitely worth it if you’re planning on visiting multiple properties. We’ve only used it four times so far, which would have cost around £190 without the pass, with Stonehenge being the bulk of the cost, so we’ve already made a saving.

After scanning our passes and getting a map, we exit the visitors centre into a small garden area, with a winding path that heads up to the castle. We followed it around and went right at the junction (you can go either way) which allowed us to approach the castle from the right-hand side.

Wow. Just Wow. It’s such an impressive castle. Everything about the exterior just looks amazing. It looks like something straight out of a film (no fanfare as you approach though!).

We moved into the castle itself through a gateway on this right side which leads to a courtyard area containing a Railway Museum and Stables. This was the area I was least impressed with as it looked and felt a bit…unfinished? I grabbed a coffee from the Stables Café (which is only a small café, but there is also a bigger one), standard National Trust prices at £3.60 for a latte, and we took a look around the rail museum.

The first room was a large collection of model trains. Elliott liked looking at these, seeing which ones looked like the Thomas & Friends characters. The next room housed an old steam locomotive – Charles – that used to run on the old Penrhyn Quarry Railway, along with some carriages and carts on view. There is a video playing in here in both Welsh and English explaining the railway’s history. There were a few locomotives missing when we went as it looks like the area is undergoing renovations. You’ll also find a great model of the local area showing the railway and the routes it took between the quarry, castle and docks.

We walked back through the gateway and made our way around to the right towards the front of the castle and entrance to the main castle building. Once you pass through the arched gateway here, you can really see the imposing walls standing in a beautifully landscaped area. We took a seat here and enjoyed the views down over the walls while I finished my coffee. Stunning views all around. Then we headed inside.

Passing through the entranceway you’re greeted by a large wooden door which leads to the main hall. It’s massive inside. We’ve been inside the main buildings of Powis Castle, Chirk Castle, Erddig Hall, but they’re nothing like this.

It’s a huge space to be greeted with. Large arched windows to the left with small stained-glass ones above, stunning large stained glass windows to the right, high ceilings with stained glass skylights, beautiful architecture, large stone carved columns bathed in lights, an impressive ornate fireplace and a balcony high to the right overlooking this grand space. Amazing. There are various items of furniture to look at, along with a large open floor space which currently hosts the Ailfframio art exhibit, containing art created by the local community to reflect Henry Hawkins’ depiction of Penrhyn Quarry while the painting itself is being reframed.

It’s a one-way system, so you follow the path through and around into a living room space. Lower ceilings here, but the whole thing is intricately decorated with white and gold patterns with coats of arms embedded in the design, and hundreds of plasterwork dragons around the edges. The room itself just looks like a masterclass of decorative wooden carvings and arches. All the rooms in this area featured unique ceiling decorations and carved wooden finishings. There’s hardly a spot of wall that didn’t look amazing.

We moved around the rooms and into a stairwell that could have come straight out of Hogwarts. It was stunning. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking straight up to the decorative skylight, and seeing all the architecture and design from the foot of the stairs all the way up, just looks unreal. Everything from the stonework and plasterwork in the railings, balustrades, walls and ceilings was intricately designed and sculpted. Very Hogwarts indeed. And it’s called the Grand Staircase, so…

We finished the inside tour and, as with all good rides and attractions, we exited through the gift shop. The 2nd and larger café is also here.

Lunchtime. There are plenty of good spots for a picnic around the Penrhyn Castle grounds, with large open lawns to sit and enjoy the view with picnic benches dotted around. It had been a bit of a rainy morning, and the grass was wet, so we sat at a bench amongst the trees, next to the castle. I’d love to have a view like this every day while eating lunch. We brought a packed lunch, probably ham or ham and cheese sandwiches as the kids might kick off if we brought something fancy like beef or chicken. Crisps, chocolate, water and cordial. We didn’t eat at the café, aside from some ice creams for the kids, but the cakes and treats looked nice.

Lunch done and it was time to explore the grounds. The kids had earned a break from walking around old buildings (Evan was fine as he enjoys castles, but Elliott had been sitting on my shoulders all the way around the inside of the castle), so we went to find the play area.

The Adventure Playground is hidden away in a wooded area which makes it even more fun for the kids to explore and find it. It’s a fun little park area, and it was quiet, so the kids loved it. There are climbing frames, balance beams, climbing tyres, see-saw, swing and more to enjoy. Little break areas like this really re-energise the kids for another walk around gardens and looking at old things.

We followed the path out of the playground and aimed for the Chapel Ruin, which is nearby. The Chapel Ruin is nestled away in a lovely corner of garden and woodland, and looks great, so definitely worth finding.

From the Chapel Ruin, we made our way through the gateway into the Walled Garden which features lots of neatly trimmed and shaped hedges, small ponds littered with lilies set amongst beautifully landscaped areas of garden. In the lower section of the Walled Garden, there are small bridges and paths over a pond area covered with tall reeds and large leafed plants, overlooked by a wooden hut – The Belvedere – which had a very Jurassic Park feel about it. Another film reference. It’s what I do!!!

The path behind leads into the woods and into The Dell, before rejoining the path around the castle. It’s a pretty big walk but there’s plenty to take in. There’s even a giant Sequoia tree, planted in 1859 by Queen Victoria.

Another trip to the adventure playground, which was now completely empty, so the kids had free reign for a while. After that, we took one final look around the amazing walls of the castle, with its red leaves climbing its walls for an even more impressive view, we took some photos with the giant straw birds and the view out over the Menai Straits.

We made our way back to the car along the left-hand side of the castle and enjoyed these final views of this stunning castle and gardens as we descended. It’s another long walk down to the visitor’s centre, but worth it for the views. We did spot a cart driving on the route that was offering lifts to and from the castle for anyone with wheelchairs or who needed assistance.

Finally, we said our farewells and drove back through the impressive gateway and headed home.

A great day out!