Castell Carreg Cennen — Attraction in Great Britain

I found this beautifully set Castle on the off chance by ending up in Ammanford and searching places to visit near by.

Since I'd never visited, I thought it was the perfect way to work off the Christmas day turkey.

The drive up was simple to follow on the sat nav and parking was great for the time of day I visited. 2.30pm

Parking is free but access to the Castle is 6.50 for adults unless you have a members card or are part of the armed forces. Blue light discount did not work.

As you walk to the ticket office 3 quarters of the way up you go though a little farm yard. With a shop/ coffee shop and picnic area and then head up the hill towards the castle.

There are plenty of opportunities to take some great photos of the views both from the car park level and at the summit where the castle is based.

There are a few little areas you can go to explore and for those who are brave with heights a great photo are of the cliff face.

Walking around the castle especially with our gorgeous Welsh weather, is advisable to have a pair of wellies or walking boots as you can get muddy, plus there's animal dropping dotted about from the sheep and rabbits.

The castle itself has a hidden secret (more of that later). As you head towards the entrance, you can take the time to appreciate the stunning views it has to offer of the beautiful countryside.

There is a small platform which leads to a drawbridge area. Once you have crossed that you are at the castle entrance. (This is gridded so sensible shoes are advised)

There are several great places to explore once inside split over levels and the views again from different areas are great. There's a few stair cases so bare that in mind, but the Gem of this Castle for me was it's Cave intrance towards the far left from where you come in.. Be prepared as this is steep as well as dark. once you get to the bottom of the steps, there is a walk way which is sheltered and takes you 50 meters or so down to another set of stairs. (This part is in total darkness, so a light of some kind is essential)

There is an open space you come too which is followed immediately by the cave entrance. Watch your head as there are low points and watch your footing as it is very wet and also a heavily uneven surface all the way down. It also can be a little narrow as you walk down.

For the explorer in me, it was definitely worth the further decent. But bare in mind you need to walk back up afterwards, so if going back upstairs is a challenge, I'd take your time. I suffer with a slipped disc, and it hurt afterwards.

Bare in mind though as you explore the car parks closing times. I think it closes around the 4.30 point so give yourself plenty of time to explore and for the walks upto and from the castle. Maybe even eating time as there are one or two benches in there to sit.

I would 100% visit again and be better prepared as I didn't know about the cave and my phone died, so I tagged along with someone kind enough to lead the way through the dark.

Lovely...

Wish I'd read the reviews before hand to be prepared for the vile owners and their granddaughter. We had walked through the steep woodland with our dogs, passing many others doing the same all dogs off lead. No signs to say otherwise and we checked each area for any livestock which there were none. As we got to the gate to the castle grounds, before even opening the gate, we were putting our dogs on lead. The granddaughter comes out of her booth, out to the gate, walking fast at us and starts jabbing the air with her finger shouting at us about our dogs. We said ok, no need to speak to us like that. She then blames us for livestock being killed recently. We explained we hadn't ever been in the area before and we are respectful. She continued to shout and made us aware she was the granddaughter of the owners. The aggression and the threatening way of coming at us was so shocking and really freaked me out. We moved on and I fell to the floor crying. She then told the next people the same thing but far less intimidating (maybe because they were older than us?) and even said "I've just had a go at those two with the dogs" that woman walking through then came to check I was ok and was horrified. She said she walks it regularly and never been told different. My partner then goes to speak to the young woman again calmly about the fact she's reduced me to tears and the affect she is having on people and she was argumentative again. We walked away and tried to speak to the owners. The old man was vile to my partner so it runs in the family of entitlement. He even said "I'm not even sorry" his own staff we were telling him to leave us alone. That says a lot, clearly a bully. He also claimed to have watched us all the way up and our dogs were out of control (has x-ray vision!) also all the families we passed kept commenting on how well behaved our dogs are.

The entire work force needs some law update training about public footpaths. Legally need to be under control but not necessarily on a lead. We had no arguments about putting them on a lead, we already were doing so.

It looked as though we were filmed by the granddaughter, I hope so, will only support our case, because if we want to get into the legality as this woman was shouting her own laws around the place...being threatened, recieving aggressive behaviour and being recorded by a business with no signage to say we will be recorded? Yeah you can record in public but if you're working as a business and decided to film your customers you must have clear signage.

We didn't stop to see the castle after this and I wish anyone doing so the...

Avoid…

We were recommended a walk on the public footpath down to the river passing by the castle from a friend. We took our dog on the walk. As we were walking through the farm yard up towards the path, a gentleman who seemed to be the farmer, approached us as we were walking up the path to say “tickets can be purchased in the shop” my partner acknowledged the gentleman and said thank you as we carried on our way. A few seconds later, he then shouted at us again to say “you need to buy tickets to go to the castle”. I then explained that we were walking to the river which is on the public footpath. His reply was curt and stated “but the bank is in the castle’s jurisdiction”, I then asked if I was correct in saying that the public footpath goes around the castle, and which bit were we not allowed on? He then said “just stick to the left”. After realising we were just walking through he soon changed his tone and gave us some instructions towards the path.

Our dog is 17 so she can struggle to walk, I carried her most of the walk as it was steep. On return to the farm which you have to walk through to get to the car park, I was carrying the dog. A woman came out (seemed to be the farmers daughter) after we had walked past the shop and said “I have no clue what they’ve got” abruptly then returned to the shop after I turned around to look at her. As we were returning to our car we realised that one gate was closed. The lady from the shop was also returning to her car. As we took the dog back to the car and gave her water, the lady shouted to the farmer that she would close the gate. We were not ready to leave yet as we were making sure the dog had water and her medication. The woman then moved her car to sit facing ours whilst waiting. We had only been roughly two minutes since arriving back to the car and yet the woman sent her daughter out to the gate to stand to wait and close it and shouted out in Welsh “what are they doing”, unaware that we are fluent Welsh speakers and local to the area. To which the daughter who seemed embarrassed and replied in Welsh “They are just giving the dog some water”. This was at 17:40, we made sure to return within plenty of time before the car park closed at 6 as stated on the gate and website. We then felt like we had to leave as the daughter had enough of waiting and the farmer then approached the car park and stood waiting for us to leave. He then closed the gate at 5:45. Really disappointed with how we were treated, we wanted to go for a peaceful walk on our doorstep and this is how they treat locals. Overall, a very uncomfortable and...