Framlingham Castle — Attraction in East Suffolk

Framlingham is remarkably intact, the walls are complete and unslighted and the original towers still watch over the castle. This was another place with a lovely village that was a worthy destination in its own right with a little market square and lots of delightful buildings. We parked up in the castle car park and walked across the drawbridge into the castle.

There was the usual covid timed entry tickets and one way system in place. Deb couldn't do the wall walk due to the spiral staircase so she missed the exhibition on the castle' history too. The wall walk gave nice views over the countryside and close ups of the ornate chimneys but the lack of a keep meant the curtain wall was better appreciated from the outside.

After a coffee we crossed the drawbridge again and Deb went back inside to ask the EH lady about the chimneys and the wall facings as some of the wall seemed to be brick fronted. We were told this was Tudor repairs and the original facing stones were from Caen. The chimneys were apparently so ornate because the builder was due to be executed when he finished them so he took such a long time that the person issuing the order died of old age before the chimneys were finished!

The stone castle was built soon after the Norman Conquest by Hugh Bigod and was besieged by King John, passing in and out of royal control before being granted to John Howard, the first Duke of Norfolk, by Richard III. Both were killed at Bosworth and the estate confiscated and then later restored. The Norfolk's were staunch Catholics and rallied support for Mary Tudor against Lady Jane Grey. Elizabeth 1st then executed Norfolk for his plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne and the castle slowly declined, being used as a workhouse, prison and military base before being handed to the state and then English Heritage.

Walking around the outside of the castle gave a far better sense of the strength of it. There was a huge ditch and earthworks and only two bridges across the dry moat, one of which...

Took the grandson to the castle as he is quite interested in forts and castles. On the day of the visit, we arrived at about 10.45am, the little car park was already full. Framlingham has a lot of parking restrictions as it is a popular tourist destination. The castle has an overspill car park that wasn't open at the time of arrival. Spoke to one of the staff members to ask if the overspill car park could be opened. She was very reluctant to open it as she said, "I'm not keen opening the car park as it's a meadow." She then walked around the small car park to see if there were any spaces. I had already said the car park was full. After some debate, she reluctantly opened the overspill car park. I purchased the entrance tickets online as there is a discount. After parking the car, handed the online tickets to the cashier, then was asked £3 for parking the car in the car park. The price of the online tickets was £31.70 which I thought the car park was included. Anyway, after the stressful beginning, the rest of the day went without incident. The castle is fairly large, when walking around the walls, there are some excellent views of the countryside. Apart from the interesting start, 99% of the staff are well informed and pleasant. Would be advisable to bring a packed lunch as the restaurant is quite pricey albeit the food and presentation is very good. I suppose if I was a member, it would bring a lot of benefits, but working full time, it would be hard to take...

Joined the English Heritage Yearly Membership in their store, did a joint Membership for 2 people at £111 + vat think it was £1 or £2 for the VAT. So now have free access for a year plus 3 extra months free on a promo... and it gives free parking plus loads of discounts, £3 all day parking was refunded to us, that alone was worth it for us as we plan to visit many places.

Staff: amazing, sweet, friendly... happy to answer any questions and we spoke to many of them as they were in various areas to help.

Covid: hand gels, queue systems, 1 at a time at toilets and prebooking. Very well organised. (open Sat 3rd April 2021) little museum section closed.

We didn't try their café so not sure if open but think I heard it was for takeaway.

Dogs: dog friendly, a lot of dogs, dog bowls down providing water

Paid to go inside the castle or free with Membership

Sights: lovely views from the walkway, do have quite a few steps to go up and to get down if you want to go on the walkway at the top of the castle walls. Lovely walks outside mini hilly terrains, a guy slipped with his coffee in hand but he laughed it off, a lovely I think lake.

A small cosy town is nearby, they were having a little outdoor market, but the public toilet in town has been closed so use the castle one before...