Berkeley Castle

From the roof of Berkeley Castle, you can see for miles – on a clear day, right over the green plains of Gloucestershire to the shimmering River Severn in the far distance. That’s no accident, of course. When Robert Fitzharding, a wealthy Bristol merchant, chose the site in 1154, he was attracted by the high natural vantage-point. In those days, the castle’s purpose was to ward against incursion by Welsh enemies on the other side of the river. In times of danger, sluice gates would let in water from the Little Avon to flood meadows 100 feet below the sheer castle walls.

Nine centuries later, descendants of the Fitzhardings – the Berkeleys – continue to live here, making it the oldest property in the country still