Maxstoke Castle

Name: Maxstoke Castle
Address: Maxstoke, Birmingham, B46 2RD, GB
Telephone: +447500 058 599

Birmingham

Courtesy of Maxstoke Castle

WHERE

Birmingham

What it’s like

A guided tour round a genuine medieval castle, open on weekdays for a look behind its walls.

This one's a tour, not a run-about. You book on and get taken round the castle itself, which is the sort of thing that lands well with a kid who's into knights and old stone walls, and less well with one who wants a playground to charge round.

It's open Monday to Friday, nine till five, which already rules out a lot of families who only get weekends free. Worth building the visit around a weekday off school or a holiday, since there's no weekend slot listed to fall back on.

There's no booking platform to click through, from what they list, so you'd need to sort the tour directly. Volunteers get in free, which is a nice touch if you know one, but for everyone else it's a case of getting a booking arranged before you turn up rather than just rocking up on the day.

Given it's a tour of a real castle rather than a purpose-built attraction, don't expect a café or a soft play corner to fall back on if the group loses interest halfway round. Go in with the mindset that this is history up close, on the castle's terms, and it tends to work best with kids who'll actually listen to what they're being shown.