STORMING THE CASTLES
Our passions run high for the fantastic fortifications, driven by Disney and “Game of Thrones.” Want to see as many as you can? The British Isles have more than 1,000. You’ll find ruins to explore and preserved palaces to stay in. You can even study them
>>> OXFORD, England — Turrets and moats. Kings and queens. Sword fights and treachery. No, I’m not describing that HBO series. I’m giving a shout-out to the real thing. Castles. ¶ In some parts of Europe, castles are nearly as common as Starbucks are in the United States. You don’t have to go far to quench your thirst. ¶ Why do they hold us spellbound? ¶ I blame Walt Disney for stoking our childhood fantasies with Sleeping Beauty Castle and a passel of fairy-tale princesses.
But Disney wasn’t the first and won’t be the last. Look at how many references there are in pop culture: movies, books and series such as “Game of Thrones” and “Downton Abbey.”
No wonder we’re hooked. I’m such a fan that I took a weeklong summer course at Oxford University called Castles of Great Britain and went on field trips through the English countryside and to tiny Wales, one of the castle capitals of the world with more than 600. The trip was a corker, as the Brits say.
You don’t have to take a class to explore the castles. There are more than 1,000 in England, Scotland and Wales. And there are castle trails to help you explore.
In Scotland, there’s an official trail (lat.ms/scotlandcastletrail )in Aberdeenshire. Although the region is just slightly bigger than the state of Delaware, it counts 300 castles within its leafy green borders, including Balmoral, the Scottish Highland residence of the British royal family.
In England, you can walk the Three Castles Path (www.three castlespath.uk), a 60-mile route inspired by the 13th century journeys of King John between Windsor Castle and Winchester. This scenic, easy-going path takes walkers through rolling hills and past small villages and historic ruins.
You don’t want to miss Wales (lat.ms/walescastles), where wonderfully preserved castles bring to mind the nation’s action-packed 2,000-year history.
Lessons in stone
I had just arrived at one of these formidable Welsh castles, Chepstow (lat.ms/chepstow), about 120 miles west of London, when the romance of the place struck me.
Chepstow, built in 1067, is one of the oldest surviving stone castles in Britain. It stands high on a cliff overlooking the Wye River and has all the trappings: a drawbridge, secret passageways and towering turrets.
My imagination shifted into overdrive as I pictured jousting knights, dancing lords and ladies and pitched battles for control of Wales.
But even as these fantasies marched through my head, I realized that my enthusiasm for Chepstow and other sites pales in comparison to that of professional castle hunters.
“I get very excited about this building. In fact, you have to hold me down,” Trevor Rowley, my Oxford professor, said as our class of 14 students milled around him.
Rowley, an archaeologist, is an emeritus fellow of Kellogg College, one of the Oxford University colleges, and author of several books on landscape history.
Chepstow was a Norman castle, he told us, built in an effort to control the Welsh, adding that construction began less than a year after William the Conqueror was crowned king of England in 1066.
He pointed out one of the defense systems — a series of self-contained enclosures within the castle’s walls. “They could be sealed off from each other as the inhabitants retreated,” he said.
Our next stop was at the nearby Tintern Abbey (lat.ms/tinternab bey), another incredible Welsh ruin. Founded by the lord of Chepstow in 1131, it is one of Wales’ great monastic ruins.
It looks much as it did in the Middle Ages, except for the missing roof and windows and a floor of grass.
Oxford classmate Alice Bisno of Culver City summed it up as she looked at the soaring walls: “You can see the bones, the ribs of this amazing church. It’s incredible.”
Cinematic setting
A totally different historic structure awaited us in Oxfordshire, about 90 miles from London. Dreamy Broughton Castle (www .broughtoncastle.com) looks like something out of a movie — several movies in fact, including the 2011 film “Jane Eyre” and the 1998 movie “Shakespeare in Love,” which starred Joseph Fiennes as a young Shakespeare.
Here’s where the story gets quirky: British actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes are related to the current owners of this elegant estate, the 21st Lord and Lady Saye & Sele, whose family name is Fiennes.
Ownership has been in the family since 1447, giving new meaning to the phrase “longtime residents.”
Broughton Castle, built in the 1300s and renovated in the 1500s, is the home every princess-wannabe wishes her prince would own.
It scores points for its beauty from a distance and up close. Livestock graze in its lush pastures, flowers bloom in its carefully tended gardens and full-length portraits of ancestors fill the Great Hall.
Wide Tudor windows throughout the house fill the rooms with sunshine. From the third story, a rooftop viewing platform overlooks the Ladies Garden full of hedges in the shape of fleur-de-lis. There’s a broad moat beyond and green pastures in the distance.
Although the castle was built to keep people out, it’s now wide open to visitors. In fact, visitors’ fees play an important role in its upkeep, a docent said as I toured this Fantasyland. Speaking of which, no disrespect Walt, but your castle just wouldn’t cut it here.