Access

Parking

The nearby public car park is surfaced with smooth tarmac.

Visitors can be dropped off 10m from the site by arrangement – please call 01620 850 330.

Approach to site

The car park is about 100m from the site entrance along a road with a gentle downhill slope and through a gate.

Visitor centre

Entry is through a door with a ramp on either side of the threshold. Space is restricted inside, but the floor is level.

Monument

The gazebo is 13m from the visitor centre and up 12 steps (with handrail).

The dovecot is 173m from the visitor centre and down 5 steps (with handrail). Its doorway is low (136cm) and narrow (70cm). Entry to the dovecot is over a small threshold and down two steps.

The route to the castle with the fewest steps is about 250m from the visitor centre. There are 3 stone steps and 1 timber step (with handrail) onto the steeply sloping drawbridge.

At ground level are the ruins of the:

brewhouse
guardhouse
inner close
chapel
priest’s room

The floor is uneven and several doorways have small thresholds.

The bakehouse and vaults are down 15 uneven steps (8 without a handrail). From the inner close, down 2 stone steps, there are 8 uneven steps (without handrail) to the bottom level of the Ruthven Tower. (There are also 3 stone steps down in the passage leading to the well.)

On the first floor are the:

great hall
kitchen
portcullis chamber
Lord’s Hall

A straight flight of eight wooden steps and three stone steps leads up to the first floor.

Grounds

The extensive gardens have gravel walkways and wooden benches throughout.

Special features

The garden’s herbaceous section is particularly fragrant in summer. It is all on the level with a grass lawn in the middle and bound gravel paths around the edge.