As we make our way round Caernarfon Castle, perhaps Wales’ most famous royal des res, we’re reminded of the long journey that King Charles has made to become our reigning monarch.
For it was in this medieval masterpiece that our then 17-year-old monarch was invested as the Prince of Wales.
In 1283, Edward I ordered the construction of this great North Wales stronghold, which stands on the banks of the River Seiont as it flows northward towards the Menai Strait.
Angela Epstein visits Caernarfon Castle (pictured), ‘perhaps Wales’ most famous royal des res’
Above, a young Charles being invested as the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon Castle
It’s hard not to be wowed by the scale of the project, which took 47 years to complete – with its rounded towers, soaring walls and detailed masonry.
To journey even further into the past, we leave the castle and take a ten-minute trudge up a hill east of the fortress to seek out the remains of a Roman fort, Segontium.
It takes imagination, as we pick our way over the stony outlines and remaining walls, to picture the fort, founded in 77AD and designed to hold around a thousand infantrymen.
After all the exertion it’s back to the main square by the castle to enjoy coffee before taking a dawdle around Cei Llechi, the former Harbour Office building, now transformed into an artisan shopping village.
Angela explores the remains of Segontium (seen above), a Roman fort founded in 77AD
Above, Dinas Dinlle, a ‘sweeping sand and pebble beach where dolphins and porpoises are said to loiter’, says Angela
Angela stays at 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, you can jump on the Welsh Highland Railway, whose narrow-gauge steam locomotives puff from beneath the castle walls for a 25-mile journey to the charming port of Porthmadog, chugging across the pleasant foothills of Snowdonia (Yr Wydffa).
Or, as we do, take a six-mile drive to Dinas Dinlle, a sweeping sand and pebble beach where dolphins and porpoises are said to loiter. And being a history lover, on the cliff overlooking the beach it’s gratifying to find the remains of an Iron Age hill fort (take good shoes as the path to the top is a little steep).
Given the royal theme to our trip, we booked into Plas Dinas Country House hotel for our stay. 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 footprints of the family are everywhere – not least in our plush room named The Lady Armstrong Jones, complete with a super-king four-poster bed and freestanding bath.
We eat and sleep like kings. But in Caernarfon of all places, it’s the least you should expect.
