It's not just because much of it was built by my undoubted hero of medieval heroes - William Marshall - and his father in law, Richard Strongbow (yes, the chap on the cider bottles!). It's not the amazing water defences, or the gorgeous view, or the cave under the castle that's probably had people living in it for most of the last 10,000 years. Nor is it because of the amazing memories from our first weekend in Wales. Nor even because this time we went there on a soggy Friday, arriving to put up tents at midnight in the rain with the rest of the Company of Chivalry and then enjoyed almost perfect weather for the rest of the weekend. I think it's the sense of anticipation that builds up through the bloody long drive through Wales to get there - and the fact that every wildest dream plays out once you arrive because it's so darn BIG! And every where you turn, there's always more to see.I thought I had this castle pretty well sussed after our first visit about 18 months ago. But this weekend's event with the Company of Chivalry proved me wrong - in between shows I discovered loads of rooms we never got to see last time. So I found the room where Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) was born, to a terrified 14 year old Margaret Beaufort, who had been sent there by her husband for her own safety. Before the sun set, a group of us scaled the battlments, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the scale of the Marshall's massive round tower, and trying to work out the layout of the kitchens and serving rooms of the ruined Great Hall.
Oh, and the cave was really spooky too...
And there is NOTHING to beat cooking your dinner on an open fire after the crowds have gone home, sitting down with a beverage in hand, toasting stuff over an open fired, surveying how well your stripey tents look pitched inside the walls...
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