Calynerfoen Castle, Amazing New Discovery
by Molly White
(Norwich, Norfolk)
Calynerfoen Castle is one of the smallest and least well-known castles in Wales. Even with this information, I was shocked at how tiny the castle really was.
It was heavily camouflaged by a leafy trees and difficult to see form afar; up one wall ivy grew, twisting and twirling across the sandy coloured stone.
There were two round towers at opposing ends, both short and stout.
It reminded me of the hidden castle in the Sleeping Beauty ballet by Tchaikovsky, where the young princess lay asleep.
When we visited there were a few other visitors there, in some ways making it a better visit, but we weren't the only ones.
We walked around the small yet wonderfully well decorated gardens, looking down from the hill that the castle was built on, to the winding river below us in the valley, behind which the skyline was broken by stunning mountains.
We walked though the gardens, filled with brightly coloured flowers and flourishing green trees.
Later we went inside the castle. From the inside the castle feels even smaller than it looks from the narrow stair cases which branched out onto doll size rooms.
We had a guide taking us and several others around the building; she spoke about most rooms and their history for a few minutes each, before taking us to the next room.
She did it slowly and quietly, which may have been off putting for some but for me it was a chance to take in the miniature castle.
After our eye-opening tour we sat to picnic. We ate beneath a invitingly short tree with rambly roots that spread across the surrounding area, like long hard worms scrambling and climbing across each other to get back into the soil after a child has collected them and set them free again.
While we chewed on our food we smelt the wonderful sweet smell of the summer, heard the song of the birds in the trees and felt the very presence of the tiny gem of the Welsh countryside.
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