I've hardly travelled at all, but had the opportunity to visit England in 2010.

This was an amazing dream come true, as I'm a history lover and avid genealogist with deep English roots.

One of the most astounding places I had visited was Warwick in Warwickshire. This fascinating and historic town is close to many other attractive places such as Leamington Spa.

Warwick is home to the beautiful Collegiate church of St Mary, which houses the altar cloth used at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953; the Lord Leycester Hospital and, most impressively, the medieval Warwick Castle.

The castle was originally built in 1068 by William the Conqueror, beside the River Avon [a nice touch as I'm a Cantabrian who's family home was on a street beside the River Avon].

It has had many alterations and additions in the ensuing hundreds of years, but these have just served to add to its majesty.

I'm a lover of tangible links to the past and although the castle is now tourist friendly, it still exudes an amazing feeling of what it must have been like in its heyday with grand rooms, tiny stairways, dark corners and torture equipment.

I loved that the artefacts were so close you could [you shouldn't] touch them, there were actors mingling with the tourists and mannequins so life-like that at times you didn't know what was human and what was not.

There were also tours into the terrifying dungeon-like gaol and I felt humbled in front of the private chapel where funerals and baptisms had taken place for centuries.
 
It's a must for history, not just castle, lovers. I went expecting a couple of hours entertainment, but all the same I set aside a whole day to meander around the castle alone and I'm glad I did. I was there more than seven hours.

For more photographs of my visit to Warwick Castle click here.