Secret castles are, by nature, not easy to find. Despite living less than an hour away from Raglan Castle in Monmouthshire, I’d never heard of this hidden gem. So one sunny Sunday, we headed over the Severn Bridge in search of adventure.

Raglan is a ruin: exactly tumbledown enough to provide plenty of rampaging in the ramparts, while still looking like a toy castle. Oodles of charm and history spill from its stone walls: Tudor knights inhabited the castle in the 15^th century, while more recently Raglan provided the backdrop to a Led Zeppelin film, The Song Remains the Same, in the 1970s.

Don’t expect much on site – plenty of historical information and a small café down the lane cover all bases. Scale the turret to dizzying heights, picnic where the great hall once stood, and pretend to be prisoners captured in the dungeons – Raglan Castle is the perfect backdrop for proper, old-fashioned fun.

And when you and your party of knights, princesses and dragons are done for the day, visit the gift shop for beautiful Welsh blankets. Perfect to warm your cockles in the car on the way home after a day of fresh air, blue skies, and medieval messing about.

Images by Lottie Storey