GRAB A KEY (LITERALLY) DENBIGH, AND UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF A FORGOTTEN CORNER OF NORTH WALES
You don’t have to look too far to spot a castle in Wales – with more than 600 scattered around it boasts more per square mile than anywhere else in the world.
But while Hogwarts-style landmarks such as Caernarfon endure on the world heritage scene, why don’t we know as much about all the others?
It quickly becomes apparent on our visit to Denbigh that a lack of recognition for its castle isn’t something the locals are especially hung up about.
‘It’s our castle, that’s all that matters,’ one chap tells us as we crest the hill to visit this weather-beaten ruin.
This sense of warmth is in evidence throughout our visit to this quiet corner of North Wales, in the green valley and heather-sprigged fields of the Vale of Clwyd.
While, for hundreds of years, the castle and the thick walls that surrounded the town were able to keep out marauding hordes, now any passing tourist – or barbarian – can open it all up with a key picked up from the library.
For just a £5 deposit – the library is located in the 16th Century former county hall – your key unlocks access to this 13th Century fortress which remains an inscrutable presence in Denbigh.
Meanwhile, in the centre of Denbigh itself we also find history on every corner – there are more listed buildings here than in any other town in Wales.
Given that Denbighshire has so much to offer, we decide to stay a 40-minute drive away from the town, booking into the privately owned Palé Hall Hotel on the edge of the Berwyn Mountains.
Closer to Denbigh itself is the market town of Ruthin whose castle, even more modest in its crumbling remains, now sits in the grounds of the aptly named Ruthin Castle And Spa Hotel.
But that’s the draw of this portion of Wales – old and new rub alongside each other with ease.
Size and style don’t matter, and it’s a sentiment that makes you feel at home.
Where to stay: Elegantly positioned among 50 acres of the Dee Valley, Palé Hall (palehall.co.uk) is one of North Wales’ few five-star hotels.
But it’s the sense of history that draws us in – not least since it has remained largely unchanged since being built around 1869.
The style is part blowsily Jacobean, part unassumingly aristocratic. The ceilings are huge, the fireplaces expansive, the atmosphere pure Sunday teatime drama.