Woolly says – With the temperatures starting to soar I seemed to be faced with the unusual problem of having to plan days for when there are clouds, absolute madness I felt, but apparently, we can’t take Alfie the Dog out on super hot days, personally I would find him a shady kennel to sit in while we headed off but a certain human decided that this wasn’t an option. So, you can imagine my delight on waking to find a good layer of clouds in the sky and the need for a light jacket to keep warm.

Heading once more across the border into Wales I felt rather excited about today’s destination, Raglan Castle is a late medieval castle located in the county of Monmouthshire. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th centuries, when the successive ruling families of the Herbert’s and the Somersets created a luxurious, fortified castle, complete with a large hexagonal keep, known as the Great Tower or the Yellow Tower of Gwent. Surrounded by parkland, water gardens and terraces, the castle was considered by contemporaries to be the equal of any other in England or Wales.

During the First English Civil War, Raglan was occupied by a Royalist garrison on behalf of Charles I but was taken by Parliamentarian forces in 1646 and its walls broken and deliberately put beyond military use. After the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the Somersets decided not to restore it and it became first a source of local building materials, then a romantic ruin. It is now a tourist attraction, as we pulled onto the carpark, I had to say it was a stunning looking place.

I nearly fell into the moat in my excitement of seeing areal moat with water in and Jo had to spend a few minutes calming me down before I ended up in the watery depths and who knows what in the bottom of it.

Alfie was eager to see what the gate house had in store and it didn’t disappoint, wonderful towers with decorative features rose high above us, a small fireplace and oven set into the wall would have provided warmth for the guards on duty,

As well as a lovely view across the courtyard. Huge empty windows and unused fireplaces showed where rooms had once been, I only wish that I could have seen it in all of its’ splendour.

The kitchen gave us two large fireplaces and a number of ovens, the panting boy seemed to be on an overload of smells as he dashed from one area to another shoving his snout into holes as far as it would go.

The servery area would have allowed the hundreds of plates of goodies to be taken through to the large hall where feasts and celebrations would have taken place.

Small towers would have allowed access from the higher floors and it gave an interesting view of some of the details that the upper fireplaces would have been adorned with.

The long gallery where once the family of the house would have exercised in poor weather would have given them wonderful views across the countryside with cleverly placed windows.

Smaller rooms and passageways led off in all directions.

The fountain courtyard would have provided a wonderful place to sit in the sunshine before ascending the grand staircase to the apartments above. The young Henry Tudor is thought to have lived in one of those rooms although that might not have been as a guest but more as a prisoner.

We sat for a while looking at where the fountain would have once stood, admiring the surrounding buildings, it must have been fabulous in its prime.

The library was once the finest in the country and would have provided an incredible amount of reading material and just for comfort the wine cellars that sat below would have been handy if you fancied a tipple whilst reading the latest bestseller.

The great tower was incredible and sat as though a small castle of its own, very steep winding steps led up to the highest point but with barking boys injured leg still a little concerning we opted to leave those and instead took in the many empty windows that the tower contained. Many centuries ago, the surrounding grounds would have been a sight for sore eyes with intricate planting and all manner of edible and beautiful flowers and plants.

We wandered round the moat admiring the lily pads, a small tower led from the great tower to the moat so that visiting parties could be boated around the water, sounds wonderful until you realised that the latrines would all have been emptied straight into the watery depths so not the most nose friendly sailing trip.

With the clouds vanishing and the sun out at it’s fullest we paused for one last view of the wonderful ruin before heading back to the car before Alfie the Dog and his paws started to fry.