Visiting Berkeley Castle

Berkeley Castle has been home to many generations of the Berkeley family and is located on the outskirts of the town of Berkeley in the south of Gloucestershire. After arriving and parking in the large free on-site car park, we headed towards the castle via a path that is presented with nicely illustrated information boards which give a very informative introduction and history to the castle. Click here to read more about the history of Berkeley Castle.

The castle’s exterior was indeed very striking and one of the very first and obvious details we saw was the breach on the west side of the 12th century circular keep. The castle was badly damaged during the English Civil war as control of it passed between the Parliamentary and Royalist forces several times during the conflict. Once the war had ended the Berkeley family were allowed to retain ownership of it on the provision that the damage sustained was not to be repaired.

We headed through the gatehouse and into the inner ward which is very beautiful as this is where we find many of the additional buildings and rooms that were constructed in the 14th century. After taking in this wonderful space we headed for the castle’s interior. The pandemic meant that the castle was operating a one-way system, so we entered the castle up some external steps which lead to the first room, the King’s gallery.

We explored many rooms including the very impressive Great Hall which is a real eye-opener. The rooms are rich in numerous artworks and antiques and contain well presented information boards which tell stories of the castle and its history. We were so impressed we decided to go around a 2nd time!

Our final part of the visit involved the beautiful terraced garden which you can get a lovely overview of looking out from the entrance to the castle. The garden is fully accessible with a pond and large open green areas – in the right weather it would be a lovely place for a picnic.

The castle is privately owned and open to the public from Sunday through to Wednesday and tickets can be bought on the castles website. The remaining days it is closed for private events.

P.S. If you are wondering from the photos, our visit was a week before Halloween so the castle had been heavily done out with various Halloween decorations!

24th October 2021

Address: Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, GL13 9BQ

Click below to watch our video on exploring Berkeley Castle and it’s history