DORDOGNE - Château de Castelnaud

The Château de Castelnaud is the most visited castle in the south west of France and I have to admit is was impressive, but you don’t get a real sense of the sheer scale of it as you approach as it is crowded by the village at its feet



As well as being an important historical monument in its own right, Castelnaud is a museum dedicated to the 100 years war. Apparently, the castle fell into English hands seven times during the conflict. Inside there are lots of exhibits of weapons, armour and the biggest crossbow I have ever seen!



The visit follows a set route through the castle and grounds, onto the ramparts and then down to the bastion where there are also replicas of huge catapult type weapons.



Below the bastion is a small cottage garden, and an area that would have been used for games or war games such as sword fighting. A couple of the rooms such as the kitchen have been arranged to give visitors an idea of how life would have been, and in July and August they do evening visits with costumed guides as well as daytime activities such as a demonstration of how to use a canon but as it was only June I’d missed out by a couple of weeks.



The village below is quite twee and worth a short detour for coffee or ice cream before making your way back to the car park. This is another one where they have decided to charge 3€ for parking so it makes the entrance fee of 7€ seem slightly less reasonable. However, I did discover they did a twin ticket with the ‘Jardins Suspendus de Marqueyssac’, so I did save a little there!