National Trust - Chirk Castle — Attraction in Chirk

UPDATED MAY 2025

Enjoyed the gardens and Castle just as much on our return. The cafes now have returnable travel cups for their hot drinks so you can take them on your your walk... either up to the castle or down from the castle and return to one of cafes when you've finished, which was great, we took time to sit with our drinks and enjoy the views on our way back down! We also noticed more signs up showing the accessible routes this time around. It's the first time we've visited Chirk Castle, on arriving up the sweeping entry drive to the car park, we displayed our blue badge, and the car park attendee removed a cone and directed us to the designated parking zone! There was a fast track entrance for national trust members and separate way in via the visitors centre for paying visitors on the day we went. We arrived on opening and noticed it was already getting busy, this is a popular place for visitors so I would suggest early arrival. The staff were friendly, welcoming, and helpful with letting us know what was accessible and where the best accessibility was. I don't think they realised it was our first visit and didn't prewarn us about the steep hill to the castle or that there was a minibus provided free to take people up, but we had a very helpful gentleman that helped us up the first section of the hill and whilst we were taking a moment to rest, and thanked the couple that helped. Our night in shining mini bus pulled up and said he'd take us up the rest and couldn't believe how we got up the first section, if you need a little help getting up to the castle you couldn't ask for a more warm friendly enthusiastic staff member to be doing that job, he really is a genuinely lovely man! The grounds were a little bumpy but fairly reasonable, if your in a manual wheelchair you may need a little extra help in a few places, especially in the gardens, but the walk around was worth it! We even ventured into the woodland walk, so we went off roading a bit, but the wheelchair does have track tyres for this purpose! There's a cafe and gift shop. Accessible toilets. Dogs welcome on leads. It's definitely worth a visit, and we will...

I visited Chirk Castle today where I was wearing heels, I had looked on the website prior to check if this would be an issue, nothing mentioned.

At the ticket office and shop there weren’t any signs stating that heels are prohibited in the castle, I even received a compliment from a member of staff. Upon entering the castle I was informed that I would need to remove my shoes and walk bare foot due to the flooring on the second floor. A young gentleman informed me that the heel has to be as big as a penny, which they were so he asked a more senior member of staff who said that they looked fine to her but would double check with someone else as she hadn’t been working there long. Now onto the third member of staff who was rude and abrupt telling me that the heel needs to be bigger than a postage stamp, two different members of staff providing conflicting sizes. This third member of staff said that the last time she checked for feet covers there weren’t any, maybe these need to be stocked if this is your policy?

I’m incredibly shocked that they would rather someone walk round bare foot for three reasons,

If the floor needs to be protected to such a degree why aren’t runners provided for visitors to walk on? Why would they want oils from peoples feet on the floor? This is health and safety concern.

I am incredibly lucky that I have a membership or I would have been frustrated paying £18.00 without gift aid. Luckily I could wear my partners socks but I felt incredibly degraded.

I understand conservation work and the passion and pride staff have over the sites however this third member of staff may need more training on how to speak to the public, I stood with my partner at the bottom of the first set of stairs trying to hold back tears due to this staff members attitude. The website also needs to be updated to state that you can’t wear heels in the castle.

I’ve had a membership for two years now, visited over 50 sites and never had an...

A fantastic Marcher castle that’s been converted into a beautiful house and I conservatively in my view reckon it’s better than many interiors by Adam. Okay so not as comprehensive and geometrically perfect but much better to look at and enjoy.

The park is really old pre-dates capability for landscaping on the craggy side of the hill and has some thousand year old trees .

Bookshelf and lower café are good places to stop and have a quick drink and a snack. The upper café is inside quite dull but the food is absolutely fantastic. Beware though the National Trust has a one price policy for the whole of England so coffee and sausage rolls and pies and pasties cost exactly the same in the cash strapped north of England as they do in central southern England.! Can’t question the quality of the food though it’s excellent in the small café and the main restaurant

There is a genuine dungeon so if you don’t particularly like your children. You can send them in there but there is unfortunately no lock or door to keep them in. The wing of the castle with the dungeon is authentic marcher era unamended thick stone walls. Don’t miss the pugin extension

Any more to say? Well, there are the gardens which I think are better than other RHS acknowledged gardens in Cheshire. The view is over the town are fantastic if you block out the wood chip factory.!!

The town itself is a lovely collection of pubs and small shop outlets. Well we’re stopping for a cup of tea or coffee.

Mini bus service runs from the car park to the castle all day until about 5 pm for those who can’t manage to walk up the hill which to be fair is very steep

Just go visit, enjoy and come away with some...