The second of the trips I took with her whole family took us to three sets of castle ruins in her area. If you're in Wales, and really the UK in general, you absolutely need to visit some of their castles, both the live ones and the ruined ones. It's not something we really have in the US! We have historical buildings, but in my experience, they're a lot more like St. Fagans, the old-timey farmhouse/log cabin sorta deal, more frontier than fortification. Given how frequently I return to the old, dusty castle aesthetic for Pinède and my custom levels for various games, I made sure to take many, many photos...
This page already has enough images, but a casual mention of my love for fantasy stuff necessitated me drawing fantasy Bunny and Setter. It's Just What I Had To Do.
(cabycammy.somnol gallery to the rescue again! I only picked my favorites here, because castle ruins can get a little redundant and I only have so much space—very very pretty, though, and fun to climb on.)
Coity
You wouldn't expect to find castle ruins in an otherwise modern-day Welsh neighborhood, but that's just how they roll. The entrance to Coity Castle was past someone's driveway, and I seem to recall a children's playpark in the entrance too. This was the biggest and best-preserved of the three ruins we visited, so Caby, Cramble, and I did a lot of climbing (and Caby's big sister instincts caused her to get nervy every single time we did...).
It was a really warm and sunny day, which made getting photos with the limited dynamic range of the DSi camera an extra fun challenge. Here's some of the best shots:
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Ogmore
Ogmore Castle was in a more remote area—we're talking sheep and horses in fields next to a little lake remote. (It should be noted that reception throughout most of the day trip was terrible, so if being without technology is your kink, you're welcome.) It was smaller than Coity, a few internal areas and spots where you imagine towers and keeps would've gone, and with the horses nearby, it was downright scenic at times. (I wish I could remember any of the conversations we were all having while we were out, but maybe those are best left analog and fuzzy in our heads and not endlessly notated in a trip diary.)
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Candleston
We had a tough time even finding Candleston Castle because it's quite literally just an overgrown old stone building, off a well-hidden path on a sandy trail. (There was even a very tall, sandy hill a bit past the parking lot. In Wales? I wouldn't have expected it.) It was the least-kept of the three, very crumbly, but still recognizable and with some plaques on it about it being a recognized historical building. There also wasn't anyone else there, and we had a hell of a time getting up and down the second level thanks to the rough shape of the stone stairs.
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We went home shortly thereafter, everyone having taken tons of photos on everything from a proper DSLR to my piddly little DSi, ordered Domino's (both Caby and her mom have the app, and we seriously got several pizzas for everyone half off thanks to the deals), and returned home in time for our traditional Friday group calls. Unfortunately, most of the group couldn't make it to this one, and everything kinda fell apart once we got home.
Did I mention we were kinda on the edge of civilization?
We'd have a make-up call later in the week before I went home, so no worries, it all ended well. And pretty castles!