A fantasy Castle and a fantastical place to visit (Penrhyn Castle)

Member Name: jillycat

Product:	Penrhyn Castle
Date:	01/10/09 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of wonderful object paintings stained glass beautiful grounds

Disadvantages: Baby changing area could be better some staff need training on family friendliness

On our recent holiday to North Wales we visited several National Trust properties in the area. Penrhyn Castle was one of these and certainly one of the more spectacular of the National Trust properties we have visited.

Where is it
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The property is located 1 mile east of Bangor, at Llandygai on A5122. Signposted from junction 11 of A55 and A5. We found the signposts very helpful and got us there without any problems.
The property is also on a bus route and you would then have to walk up the drive to the property.
We found the parking at the castle to be very good it is a short 5 minute walk from the car park to the castle but it is all up hill. In the car park there is a toilet and baby changing area that we very clean.
Disabled visitors have a separate car park next to the castle so they don't have to navigate the hill. What did annoy me as we walked past this car park is that some people were using it who weren't disabled.


About the property
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This is an enormous neo-Norman meaning a style of architecture that emulates that of Norman period 11-12th Century. The castle located between Snowdonia and the Menai Strait.
The castle was built by Thomas Hopper between 1820 and 1845 for the wealthy Pennant family. The pennant family made their fortune from Jamaican sugar and Welsh slate. The castle is crammed with fascinating object and artifacts such as a one-ton slate bed made for Queen Victoria. Hopper also designed the castle's interior with elaborate stone and wood carvings, plasterwork and mock-Norman furniture.
The castle contains an outstanding collection of paintings including at least one painting by Rembrandt .
The Victorian kitchen and other servants' rooms, including scullery, larders and chef's sitting room, have been restored and set out showing the preparations for the banquet for the Prince of Wales's visit in 1894.
The stable block houses an industrial railway museum, a model railway museum and a dolls' museum displaying a large collection of 19th- and 20th-century dolls.
The 24.3 hectares (60 acres) of grounds include parkland, an extensive exotic tree and shrub collection and a Victorian walled garden. Adapted from the National Trust website.


Our experience
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Café
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Having arrived and donned our walking boots to see some of the grounds we wandered up to the castle to get some lunch for us and our 20 month old son. The café is located to the rear of the castle and has disabled access to it. The café was very busy and bustling when we arrived but we were able to get some sandwiches a bowl of hot soup and order some Welsh rarebit within about 5 minutes. The café was nice and clean and the highchairs were the usual National trust style i.e. wooden chairs that allow the child to sit at the table with you rather than using a tray. The café was very family friendly and there were several highchair toys available for the little ones to play with. There was also a microwave and a bottle warmer if parents needed them. The food was delicious, lovely and hot and tasty. For two sandwiches, Welsh rarebit, a bowl of soup and two drinks it came to £18. As our son didn't finish the sandwich the staff helpfully wrapped it up so he could eat it later.


Baby Changing
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We used the baby changing faculties here which were satisfactory once you had navigated the complicated arrangement of the doors as you had to open one door then close it before you could open the other door. There was a bin for used nappies, an overhead heater you could put on if your baby was getting cold during the nappy change. But it is a small room with nothing over head to amuse your littlie one and no foam mat for them to lay on just the wooden raised platform.


The Castle
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Suitably refreshed and clean we decided we would look round the castle first before seeing the grounds. We walked around the outside of the castle taking care to stay within the stones so we wouldn't get run over by cars on the bend and walked up to the castle.

We had at this time to hand in our son's backpack carrier and unfortunately the change bag. The staff wouldn't let me take a bit of food with us for our son in case he wanted something to munch on the way round. In fact the staff at reception I found to be very unorganized and unhelpful. We had negotiated getting my son into the reins and brought him back to reception and were clearly starting to look fraught as we handed in the various bags and bits in having finished that and repacked the food and a small drink in the change bag we were then ready to go with our tokens to recollect our bags later, when we were then asked to show our tickets. This meant we then had to re go into the bags taking them of the trolley find the tickets to show them all the while our son was raring to go round the castle and protesting about staying still. I think the staff should be trained to be a bit more family friendly.

Anyway on to the tour of the castle. You are guided around the castle in a one way fashion to the various rooms. The fist room you come to is the hall way or entrance room this is just magnificent the stone carving on the pillars and the stained glass are just wonderful they are very in keeping with Norman design and the leaded glass is just outstanding. Having done a leaded glass course myself I could really appreciated the amount of labour and craftsmanship that had done into the various designs they were way beyond my merge efforts.

From the entrance hall you wandered around the castle and various floors of rooms. These include a nursery, breakfast rooms, one of the state rooms includes a wonderful one ton slate bed in which Queen Victoria once slept needless to say the mattress is not slate! Some of the rooms are lavishly furnished and decorated with Victorian furniture that is designed to look Norman in date. The walls are quite often decorated with sumptuous silk wall paper.
There was one room which wasn't laid out as such but displayed some of the slate furniture with remarks on a poster say that they hoped to raise some funds to display these items properly.

One thing that disappointed my husband was that you couldn't go up the turrets and one to the battlements as he hoped to do that and get a view of the surrounding countryside. We made do with some spectacular views form the windows but due to cameras not being allowed in the property you can't photograph the views from the castle but you can obviously from the grounds

The staff in the rest of the house seemed very knowledgeable and friendly and I had a great chat with one of the guides in the breakfast room about all the paintings on display. These included portraits of Henry VII Elizabeth I and Charles I. In these rooms several of the pictures look to have been restored as they have a beautiful radiance of in the colors. Hanging over the mantelpiece was a Rembrandt painting of an unknown Dutch lady.

Exhibitions in the kitchens are a testimony to gluttony with loads of preparation areas and especially as it is laid out ready of the Princes visit

The whole house is an indication in my opinion that the nouvuea riche existed in the Victorian era and like to display there wealth and opulence on a grand scale. I guess in some ways it is very much the look at us see how much we have type of house. The estimates for how much it would cost you to build something similar today are put at between £49-50 million so not even a lottery win would get you this house.

Though there is both a dolls museum and a train museum we did neither of these. Mainly because we fancied walking around the grounds but also because I find dolls to be a bit sinister so seeing a 1000 of them would be a bit too much for me!


The grounds
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These were just fabulous we followed several of the designated trails around the gardens with our son back in the trusty back pack. During our walk we saw a red squirrel and heard and saw a bird of prey now this is were my bird spotting skills were left in a quandary it sounded to me like an owl but I thought it looked from below too big to be an owl. The information given to us with the map seemed to indicate that Owls and other birds of prey could be seen in the area.

The walled garden leads into the bog garden and even in September there were lots to admire. The plants and whole area is beautifully kept and we witnessed several gardeners keeping the garden in order. In the bog garden there is a lovely gazebo so you can admire the giant rhubarb plants and other wonderful plants on display



Adventure Playground
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There is a small adventure playground for children in the grounds with a couple of picnic benches in it too. The equipment is all very well maintained and there is a good thick layer of bark chippings for any crashes. However most of the items were too big more our 20 month old son to play on but I would definitely say they are suitable for children 3 years plus. Because of this we took a ball and kicked it around in some of the grassy areas which he seemed to enjoy.


Accessibility
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There is a separate disabled parking which is 200 yards from the entrance. The entranced is ramped for wheelchairs and the property has 3 wheelchairs that can be borrowed. However a lot of the house is not accessible to wheelchairs due to multiple stairs. The stable block is fully accessible with a lift to the first floor gallery museums and coffee shop.
To get round the grounds which in places are quite steep on request by booking in advance you can get a staff driven multi seater vehicle to take you on a tour of the gardens.
In some areas of the museum and house there are touchable objects for the blind.

Opening
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The castle and grounds are open everyday bar a Tuesday from April to the 1st of November open from 12 till 5pm bar July and August where it opens an hour earlier at 11 am


Admission prices
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Standard Admission: £9, child £4.50, family £22.50. Groups £7.50. Garden and stable block exhibitions only: £5.60, child £2.80 or free for National Trust Members

Address and contact details
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Penrhyn Castle
Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 4HN
Telephone: 01248 371337 Info line

Overall
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This is a great National Trust property to visit in North Wales. I personally think there is a lot here and it would be worth while allocating time to appreciate them all. As we have a toddler I am sure we missed bits of interest in both the castle and the grounds as he can only stay so long in one bit before he wants to move on. I think the property holds enough for you to do on several visits. I would definitely recommend you take a visit to this fantasy castle and monument to Victorian opulence and spending. The grounds have lots of wonderful walks for you to enjoy with lots of opportunities for you to spoke animals and birds in it. The only criticism are minor a more improved baby changing area and the staff at the entrance of the castle to be a bit more aware of family friendly interactions e.g. not asking to see tickets after you have been there for 5 minutes handing over bags and are ready to go ask before we unload please.

Summary: A wonderful neo Norman castle in North Wales well worth at least one visit if not two or more