Prudhoe Castle
ENTRY
Free
SETTING
Outdoors
WHERE
Prudhoe
What it’s like
Free grounds to explore around a towering keep, with steep steps up to a gatehouse chapel and a Regency mansion inside the walls.
The grounds here are free, so wandering the inner bailey and craning your neck up at the keep costs nothing at all. Kids can clatter up the steps to the gatehouse chapel, and there's a Regency Gothic mansion built right inside the old castle walls, which is a properly odd thing to stumble on halfway round a medieval site.
Booking isn't essential, but it does get you a better price and guaranteed entry if you want to see inside, and under-fives go in free either way (ask for the infant ticket). Anyone five to seventeen needs a child ticket. If you're planning ahead, booking online the day before knocks a bit off the cost, though you can still turn up and pay on the day.
One thing to plan around: the inner ward only opens on the first Sunday of each month, from 11am to 3pm, so if that's the bit you're after, check your dates before you go. The rest of the grounds are open daily from 10am to 4pm regardless.
Steep steps up to the chapel and upper floors mean it's not one for buggies on those bits, and the site itself has proper slopes, so comfortable shoes matter more than you'd think for a castle visit. Parking is free but it's about 70 metres from the entrance over a slope, cobbles and loose gravel, with two spaces for disabled visitors closer in.
Facilities
Need to know
- Parking
- Free parking 70 metres from entrance via slope, cobbles and loose gravel
- Wheelchairs
- Ground floor of house accessible via ramp
- The inner ward is only open one Sunday morning a month, easy to miss if you don't check first
- Under-fives can have a free infant ticket rather than just being waved through
- Booking the day before online is cheaper than turning up and paying on the day
- Wear proper shoes, the grounds have steep slopes and the parking approach has loose gravel
Plan your visit
Is it free to get in?
The grounds are free to wander daily. Seeing inside the buildings needs a ticket, with under-fives free and ages five to seventeen needing a child ticket.
Do we need to book ahead?
You don't have to, you can book and pay on the day. Booking online by midnight the day before gets you a bit off the price.
When can we see the inner ward?
Only on the first Sunday of each month, 11am to 3pm. The rest of the grounds are open daily, 10am to 4pm.
Is it OK for buggies and wheelchairs?
The ground floor of the house has a ramp, but the chapel and upper floors are steep steps only. The grounds themselves are compacted gravel and grass with some steep slopes, so manual wheelchair users may need a hand.
Is there parking?
Free parking, about 70 metres from the entrance over a slope with cobbles and loose gravel. There are two spaces reserved for disabled visitors.
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