Bagots Castle

What it’s like

Free ruins of a 14th century castle to poke about in, with a visitor centre and a picnic spot, open weekends only.

There's no polished gift shop or café queue here, just genuine 14th century castle ruins to wander round and an Education Visitor Centre to make sense of what you're looking at. It's free to get in, which makes it an easy one to add to a weekend if the weather's decent, and there's a picnic area if you want to make a proper afternoon of it rather than a quick look and leave.

The catch is timing. It only opens weekends and bank holidays, and only from April to October, so this isn't one you can rock up to on a wet Tuesday in February. Last entry's 3:30pm with the site shutting at 4, so if you're the sort of family that turns up mid-afternoon, you'll want to get there earlier than usual to actually see the ruins properly rather than being rushed round them.

There's no booking involved, so it's a genuine turn-up-and-explore sort of visit. With ruins rather than a restored building, it suits kids who like a bit of imagination filling in the gaps, climbing over old stone and picturing what used to stand there, more than ones after interactive buttons and displays.

Facilities

Need to know

Last entry

3:30pm

• Only open weekends and bank holidays, April to October, so it's shut most of the year
• Last entry is 3:30pm even though it doesn't close until 4
• It's ruins rather than a restored castle, so there's an Education Visitor Centre to give it context
• Free entry with no booking system to fuss with

Plan your visit

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