2025.10 UK & More - Carisbrooke Castle

2025.10 UK & More – Carisbrooke Castle

During our visit of Isle of Wight we visited a castle strategically located on some of the highest ground on the island. It was a neat place to visit.

Location

Located south of Newport is the castle. Signage is good, complete with a single lane road that leads you to a parking lot just west of the main entrance. Here’s another example of the benefit of purchasing a English Heritage annual pass — parking was free here.

From the picture above is the main entrance into the castle. We visited in the morning on a day that was trying to alternate between drizzle, rain, and just being overcast. This was a day where my recent rain jacket from the F1 filled clothing store in Silverstone got a workout and I found it to be well worth it. There is a small gift shop by the entrance and we did look at the items when we were on our way out.

The grounds were well maintained. One interesting feature of this castle is that due to its elevation, it has donkeys. Historically, the donkeys were vital creatures as they helped to run the pump to draw fresh water up to the castle. Although it’s no longer required today, the donkeys remain and they have a once-a-day ‘workout’ that lasts almost a minute.

Obviously, with any animal Little Miss did enjoy seeing them, and smartly, this time did not try and adopt them — they definitely would not have fit into the rental car.

It’s possible to climb up to get a view from the top of the castle. Even with the less-than ideal weather the view is pretty good. On a clear day it would easy to have a view over lots of the island. Below is a slideshow with more pictures highlighting the view from the castle.

After walking about the grounds we then headed out and visited the gift shop on our way out.

Gift Shop

I only include a picture of this item, as I didn’t realized that “Navy Strength” is a standard unit of measure for alcoholic drinks. Also, a part of me wants to be even more sarcastic and say “I didn’t know the British has a vessel names ‘Victory Rum’. Guess they expect to win a few battles with a name like that.”

Overall, it was a fairly short visit for us at the castle, however that was another way of justifying the pass — we could spend as little or as much time at a location and not have any feeling that we are getting “our money’s worth”

Explore other parts of this trip:

Part 1 – Air Canada Flight Toronto to Halifax, to London

Part 2 – Hilton Garden Inn, Heathrow

Part 3 – Brooklands Museum

Part 4 – Best Western Abbots Barton Hotel, Canterbury

Part 5 – Dover Castle

Part 6 – Canterbury Cathedral & Abbey

Part 7 – Hilton Garden Inn, Silverstone

Part 8 – Hardwick Hall

Part 9 – Newcastle Upon Tyne Doubletree Hotel

Part 10 – Alnwick Gardens & Corbridge Roman Town

Part 11 – Premier Inn Penrith