The construction of Chirk Castle began in the 13th century so some of it is very old. The castle wasn’t open when we visited but we were happy to explore the grounds.

On arrival we were very hungry so our first port of call was the café. We ate outside in the courtyard which was a tad chilly in the wind.

We took our cups of tea onto the lawn where it was much warmer.

After a little rest to let our lunch go down we played roly poly on the hill.

After many roly polies we set off to explore further.

We found a long seat that had been carved from a 200 year old cedar tree.

The tree was blown over in a storm in 2013. We read all about it on a display next to the seat.

Further on through the beautiful gardens we came to a thatched building where hawks used to live.

At the edge of ‘The Pleasure Ground Wood’ we climbed up onto a fence for a photo.

Unfortunately a gust of wind blew and we both tumbled backwards into long grass the other side.

One of the humans fashioned a bear lifting stick from a fallen tree branch and managed to retrieve us both. Here I am being lifted back over….

We had a look in The Woodman’s Hut but no one was at home.

It was time to move on as we had to get to Erddig next, so we headed back towards the castle.

The castle styled hedge made a great place for a photo shoot!

We would like to visit Chirk again oneday as it would be very interesting to see inside too.

For more information see: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle

Horace the Alresford Bear 18/9/2020