Britain at its best: Inside the royal town of Caernarfon – home to a medieval masterpiece of a castle where a teenage Charles was installed as the Prince of Wales
As we walk around Caernarfon Castle, perhaps Wales’ most famous royal castle, we are reminded of the long journey King Charles took to become our reigning monarch.
It was in this medieval masterpiece that our then 17-year-old monarch was installed as Prince of Wales.
In 1283 Edward I ordered the construction of this great stronghold in North Wales. It stands on the banks of the River Seiont, which flows northwards towards the Menai Strait.
Angela Epstein visits Caernarfon Castle (pictured), ‘arguably Wales’ most famous royal castle’
Above, a young Charles is installed as Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle
It’s hard not to be impressed by the scale of the project, which took 47 years to complete – with its round towers, high walls and detailed brickwork.
To travel even further back in time, we leave the castle and walk ten minutes up the hill to the east of the fort, in search of the remains of a Roman fort, Segontium.
It takes some imagination to picture the fort, founded in 77 AD and capable of housing around a thousand infantry, as you walk over the stone contours and surviving walls.
After all the effort, return to the main square by the castle to enjoy a cup of coffee. Afterwards, you can wander around Cei Llechi, the former port office building that has now been converted into a shopping village for artisan crafts.
Angela explores the remains of Segontium (pictured above), a Roman fort founded in 77 AD
Above, Dinas Dinlle, a ‘spacious sand and pebble beach where dolphins and porpoises are said to hang out’, says Angela
Angela is staying at the Plas Dinas Country House hotel (above), the former home of Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret. There she ‘eats and sleeps like a king’
To see more of this part of Wales, hop on the Welsh Highland Railway. The narrow gauge steam locomotives run from beneath the castle walls and travel 25 miles to the charming port of Porthmadog. Then you chug through the gentle foothills of Snowdonia (Yr Wydffa).
Or, as we do, take the six-mile drive to Dinas Dinlle, a vast sand and pebble beach where dolphins and porpoises hang out. And for history buffs, it’s rewarding to find the remains of an Iron Age hillfort on the cliff overlooking the beach (bring good shoes as the path to the top is a bit steep).
Given the royal theme of our trip, we booked a stay at the Plas Dinas Country House hotel. The ancestral home of the Armstrong-Jones family, Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret once lived in this historic country house, three miles south of Caernarfon.
The family footprints are everywhere, not least in our luxurious room called The Lady Armstrong Jones, complete with a super-large four-poster bed and freestanding bath.
We eat and sleep like kings, but in Caernarfon of all places that is the least you can expect.
