Well welcome to Wales. Can't you tell by the weather anyway.
Look at that what beautiful scenery that's Ogmore castle by the way, that
leads us on to what we're doing in this video. We'll be looking at Welsh castles
and tips for tourists when you're visiting. OK so let's get started.
Firstly a correction, they're not Welsh castles they were built by the English
most them around the 13th century, they weren't designed as a summer
house they were designed for conquest and subjugation of the Welsh people but
after 800 years most of us have got over it. It was Edward the First who was the
main instigator of these castles but saying that after 800 years we regard
these as part of our Welsh heritage, so we've got used to them. Anyway,
the first thing, getting around. The main castles like Cardiff Caernarfon Caerphilly,
there in the town centres so you can get away with not having a car but if you
want to visit the more unusual the more dramatic like Carreg Cennen in the
Brecon Beacons you would need a car to get there. It's really hard to tour
on public transports and (I'm being attacked by geese) another thing you can get to see
a few castles in a day. For example yp the road is Dunraven Bay and Dunraven
castle from there you can go and see Ogmore castle, from Ogmore castle you can go to
the sand dunes and see the fortified manor house of Candleston castle you
can go into Bridgend town centre and see Newcastle from they go to Coity castle
just on the outskirts of Bridgend. All those within a total distance of 15 , thats1 5 miles.
So it's not a lot of driving but you just can't do that routes on public
transport.
Renting a car, that leads us on to the next thing
facilities and parking. Most towns and castles don't have dedicated car parks
for the castles you have the park in the council car park or a private car park
and these are normally pay and display and they can be quite old-fashioned as
in they don't accept cards they only accept the right money, they don't give
change. So make sure you have a handful of change for these car parks, obviously
in Cardiff the car parks are more modern they accept cards and things like
that. Outside of the towns you may be lucky you
can have roadside parking or there may be a small car park next to the
castle like this one there, they've got a small one by the river, takes a handful
of cars just be careful on this one because this river is tidal and on a high
tide, this whole area floods! They go to the pub up the road, leave their cars,
the tide comes in. They come to find the car under water so the rental
company won't take gladly to returning your car covered in mud. So the next
thing is what to wear. What to wear, no it's not a fashion vlog
we say what to wear it can be very wet muddy they are ruins in a lot of cases so
the floors are uneven. They were designed to keep people out
they're not like user friendly, the staircases can be narrow spiral and
steep so the main thing make sure you wear sensible footwear, non-slip
footwear. Also it can be wet anytime of the year and certain castles like
Pembroke and Carreg Cennen have really cool caverns and caves underneath so you
may need something to keep the drips off like a light jacket any time of the year.
So that's the fashion advice for this video. Right moving on to the next thing
opening times generally in the winter 10:00 to 4:00 maybe a bit longer in the
summer. This ones behind me is free Ogmore, the smaller ones are often free and
they are unmanned. Because they are unmanned you can get in, there's only a small fence you can
just climb over the fence. So if you want to take a photograph outside of those
times you can but the larger ones they charge maybe between six to nine pound
fifty but they have a lot of facilities. They have coffee shops, gift shops,
toilets, tours, things for kids and you can spend most of the day there so when
you do have to pay you normally get value for money.
As I mentioned if you want to check out the prices family tickets and things
like that have a look, just do a search for the castle online and if it's not
there have a look but for the smaller ones have a look at the website CADW the
Welsh government agency who look after these C A D W, ink below again. So
that's opening times and finally drones. CADW do not allow drone flight on any of
their properties. The main castles such a Cardiff and
things like that you can't fly your drone over heavily populated areas in
any case but if you do want to use a drone, come early, the smaller castles like
this Let horses go by, don't disturb the horses! I'm on the other side of the
castle so I'm not on officially on CADW property so you can get away with
it but just use your common sense and don't bother other people. That
annoying buzzing sound can annoy other people and since the Gatwick incident
people aren't looking that kindly at drones in general. So anyway that's a short
video on Welsh castles and tips for tourists. If you have any questions put
them in the comments below or contact us on our website. Comme to Wales we've got
plenty of castles like I said 600, so see you soon.
Let's go, oh by the way I keep forgetting this, if you want to see more about Wales
in general not just castles check out our videos below. We've got things like
the Elvis Festival in Porthcawl, yes thousands of Elvis' Also we've got seaside
resorts and also we don't just do Wales we do travel and you can see us arguing
around the world with me and
Mel. So, anyway subscribe. My feet are soaking.