Warwick Castle is somewhere where I went quite a few times as a child, and I always remembered it as being a really fun day. I couldn’t wait to take the boys, especially as they love castles and knights.

We were originally planning on going the week before, but Alex and Benjamin came down with croup and the weather was atrocious, so we rearranged to go last Friday – and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect!

We parked in the Stables car park, which is the one right by the entrance to the castle. It is a pay and display, and we were a little bit taken aback to find it cost £10 to park for the day – I was a little disappointed as at around £25 for an adult ticket, it isn’t a particularly cheap day out as it is. There are very few places to park in Warwick so we paid and went through to the castle. It was just as beautiful and majestic as I remembered.

Because the kids had been cooped up in the car for a while, we headed to the playground for a run around, which they loved.

We then walked over to the main entrance of the castle, passing arrow shooting on the way. This cost £5 for 12 adults – yet another added cost to the day! We didn’t do any of the added extras, including the dungeons, which is £9 per adult.

The castle is surrounded by acres of beautiful gardens and grass, which is perfect for picnics. We took our own picnic, but there are plenty of ice cream and hot dog stands around, and the prices didn’t look too bad.

Graham took Harrison and Alex up to the top of the castle whilst I stayed with Benjamin – I’m not a fan of heights so I didn’t mind! You can’t take a pushchair into the castle because of all the steps, but there are plenty of areas to leave your pram if you need to. I took Harrison and Alex around the inside of the castle – they were particularly fascinated by the suits of armour in the great hall.

When we went back outside, we realised we had missed one of the shows that we had wanted to watch, so decided to wait to watch the Horrible History show. Whilst we were waiting, the kids had an ice cream and I popped to the little merchandise shop. I picked up a helmet and axe for the boys, which they have had plenty of fun with, and at £2 each, I thought they were pretty reasonable!

We wandered down to the river and admired the view of the castle in the sunshine. It really is spectacular!

We found a spot on the river bank to watch the Horrible History show which was absolutely brilliant – the kids and adults all enjoyed it!

After the show, we went for a wander around the grounds. By the Conservatory tea rooms there are some beautiful formal gardens, and we loved watching the peacocks strut around and call out to one another.

On our way back to the car park, we stopped off in the beautiful rose gardens, where I remember having a picnic with my nan and grandad as a teenager. I managed to get some beautiful photos of the boys and of the roses.

Although expensive, Warwick Castle is a really lovely day out, and was definitely worthy of being included in my Top Ten Places to Visit in the West Midlands.

*We were provided with tickets to visit Warwick Castle free of charge. All thoughts and opinions are our own.