National Trust - Powis Castle and Garden — Attraction in Welshpool

First Castle I've visited and had an inside look around. I have to say, it was really fascinating and interesting to see everything, how they worked, etc. The castle has a beautiful location, beautiful gardens, beautiful interior, both furnishings and architecture, and I've always been interested to go somewhere like this. It was nice being told about the history of the castle, what rooms were what, what they were used for, by some kind old lady. She seemed really sweet and intelligent, as most of the staff, they warned us not to take pictures, (interior) and shared their knowledge of the castle. I have to say, its a true beauty. The high ceilings, grand staircase, massive dining rooms, hallways and bedrooms were great to look around. Now obviously, you weren't allowed to touch anything, as they seemed really old and precious. But the paths to different rooms were clear, and easy to understand without getting lost. Other than the inside, the outside had a massive garden, with a large field of grass infront, a small greenhouse looking building, and everything looked so organised and taken care of. Definitely worth the price. Bummer that you can't enter every room, as some are empty or messy, but understandable. There's enough time to look around the castle, learn the history, look through the gardens, and sit down for a cup of tea throughout the day. Really recommend visiting, everything was gorgeous and every staff was really kind. I apologise for making the review so long, alongside with any spelling or grammar errors. Hope this was helpful. Here are numerous photos from the outside so you can see how beautiful...

Our visit on the 26th August 2022 was a wedding anniversary treat. The castle was easy to find using the Satnav. Set in some beautiful Welsh countryside we were greated as we drove upto the castle by a large herd off free roaming deer just as visiting dignitaries might have done over the hundreds of years the castle has occupied this hill top site.

Once parked up, we took the short walk to some picnic benches situated outside the castle.

Our entry into the castle brought us to a large courtyard where there was some seating and additional tables for the Café.

Across the courtyard to the main castle building and through the large wooden doors brought us into a cool fairly dark entrance hall. We found out that it's kept cool and dark to protect the vast collections of arts enclosed within. There is also no photography permitted inside the building for the same reason. You follow a route through the castle, visiting a number of highly decorative rooms from dinning rooms, living rooms and upstairs for the bedrooms including the State Bedroom which had been prepared for a visit from Charles the Second, which never actually happened.

Throughout the interior were a number of guides who were extremely knowledgeable of the castles long history, we spent quite a while listening to them.

Our visit ended with a short tour of the extensive gardens.

It is very much worth the visit and somewhere we would quite happily visit again from out home in...

Busy but interesting national trust castle/manor house.

The gardens are large terraced and probably not very wheelchair friendly. The views are amazing and the gardens well maintained and varied. Worth a view if you're the amateur botanist in your family. There are a lot of steep steps to reach the bottom tiers of the garden so be prepared for exercise. When we visited there was an event where various footballs, volleyballs and badminton equipment was freely available for use. Most of them were but our family happily played for quite a while before taking a walk around to the ice house and lake in the grounds, gentle and undulating walk was very pleasant.

There is a cafe and second hand book store which we didn't try out this time. However we did go into the main house to see the beautifully presented an preserved rooms and antiques which were a treat and my sons even enjoyed exploring the house. Again stairs as expected but also a one way systems in place due to covid. Asked questions of the available staff who gave quick and interesting answers.

The whole place was quite busy and although there was only a small queue for the main house the Clive of India exhibits in the main house stretched around the courtyard so we deferred this time.

Overall very good if busy. The terraced gardens were the highlight. Avoid if you're in a wheelchair or unable to take steep stairs...