Top Castles Day Trips from Bath
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The top Castles Day Trips from Bath include Sham Castle, Nunney Castle, Chepstow Castle, Old Wardour Castle, St Briavels Castle, Llangybi Castle, Usk Castle and Ludgershall Castle & Cross.
Bath sits in a bowl of green hills in the West Country, and once you have wandered its honey-coloured streets, the surrounding countryside opens up plenty of reasons to head out for the day. Castles are scattered in every direction.
Closest of all is a folly perched on the down just east of the city, barely a stroll from the centre. Head south into Somerset and you reach a moated tower standing in a village.
Drive east into Wiltshire and you find ruins beside a lake and grassy earthworks on a town's edge. The richest cluster lies west, across the Severn, where the Wye Valley and Monmouthshire hold a run of medieval strongholds, from clifftop ruins above the river to a lived-in family home among old walls.
Some are free to wander, some are cared for by English Heritage or Cadw, and a couple sit quietly on private ground. Whether you fancy a short walk or a longer drive into the Welsh Marches, there is something to suit.
Here are eight castles for a day trip from Bath.
Sham Castle
Photo: Derek Harper via Geograph.org.uk
Sham Castle on Bathampton Down Right on Bath's doorstep, this eighteenth-century folly sits on Bathampton Down on the hillside just east of the city. It is a mock castle, really just a decorative screen wall with nothing behind it: a central pointed archway flanked by round turrets and square towers, finished with battlements and blank windows.
Ralph Allen, the local quarry owner and postal reformer, had it built in 1762 to improve the view from his town house down below. You can reach it freely on foot, it is floodlit after dark, and it rewards you with wide views over Bath from the down.
Nunney Castle
Photo: Michael Dibb via Geograph.org.uk
Nunney Castle About nineteen kilometres south of Bath, this tall, compact castle sits right in the middle of the Somerset village of Nunney, ringed by a water-filled moat fed by the village brook. Built as a fortified house, it has four round corner towers capped with cones around a rectangular keep.
One whole side has collapsed, which opens the interior to view. Sir John de la Mare was granted a licence to build it in 1373.
Parliament's forces besieged and took it in 1645 during the Civil War, and the north wall finally fell in on Christmas Day 1910. Entry is free, beside the church.
Chepstow Castle
Photo: Michael Garlick via Geograph.org.uk
Chepstow Castle Cross the Severn and drive west, and after around thirty-six kilometres you come to Chepstow in Monmouthshire. The castle perches on a narrow ridge above limestone cliffs that fall straight to the River Wye.
Building started in 1067 under the Norman lord William FitzOsbern, which makes it one of the oldest stone castles still standing anywhere in Britain. The ruins stretch in a long line along the ridge, running through a series of walled enclosures and towers, and you can walk the battlements and step into Marten's Tower.
Cadw cares for the site today.
Old Wardour Castle
Photo: Maigheach-gheal via Geograph.org.uk
Old Wardour Castle Turn east into Wiltshire for this ruined fourteenth-century tower house near Tisbury, set beside a lake in landscaped parkland. Its plan is an unusual hexagon, rising through several floors around a small central courtyard.
Lord Lovell had it built in the 1390s as much for grand living as for defence, and a Renaissance doorway was added in the 1570s. One side was destroyed in the Civil War when the Arundell family blew up part of it with a mine to force out a Parliamentary garrison in 1644.
Rather than rebuild, later owners kept it as an ornamental ruin, adding a stone banqueting house and grottoes. English Heritage looks after it.
St Briavels Castle
Photo: Jaggery via Geograph.org.uk
St Briavels Castle Further up the Wye valley, on the western edge of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, this Norman castle stands on a spur above the river. Unusually, it now runs as a youth hostel, though English Heritage cares for it.
Its most striking part is the twin-towered gatehouse, put up in the 1290s under Edward the First, together with the bailey buildings and the line of an old moat, now a garden. Begun soon after the Norman Conquest, it became the base from which the royal Forest of Dean was managed, and a hunting lodge for King John.
You can stay overnight or visit by day.
Llangybi Castle
Photo: Philip Halling via Geograph.org.uk
Llangybi Castle Deeper into Monmouthshire, about a mile north of Llangybi village near Usk, this large ruined castle sits on a wooded ridge. Also known as Tregrug Castle, it counts among the biggest single-enclosure castles in Britain, with a long surviving curtain wall, a twin-towered gatehouse and a tall keep called the Lord's Tower.
An earlier Norman motte lies to the east. The de Clare family built the stone castle in the early fourteenth century, on a site whose history reaches back further still.
Do note that it stands on private land, heavily overgrown and hemmed in by defensive ditches and woodland, so plan ahead before setting out.
Usk Castle
Photo: Pauline E via Geograph.org.uk
Usk Castle Just north of Usk town, and only a little further from Bath, this ruined medieval castle sits on a hill with a stone keep, towers, curtain walls and a gatehouse. What sets it apart is that it is also a lived-in family home, with gardens laid out among the old walls.
Visitors can wander the ruins and grounds, though there are steep steps, low doorways and uneven ground to negotiate. The grounds open on Sunday and bank holiday afternoons through spring and summer, and a small donation is asked for entry.
It makes a gentle pairing with nearby Llangybi on the same run west.
Ludgershall Castle & Cross
Photo: Stefan Czapski via Geograph.org.uk
Ludgershall Castle and Cross Back east in Wiltshire, on the edge of the town of Ludgershall, this castle survives mostly as large grassed earthworks, with steep banks and ditches and a few standing fragments of a flint tower. It started life as a Norman motte-and-bailey, then grew in the thirteenth century into a royal hunting lodge and residence used by King John and Henry the Third, before it fell into decline and was pulled down by the 1540s.
The site is open freely as a quiet green space. Nearby on the High Street stands the Cross, a late medieval market cross.
English Heritage cares for both.
FAQs
Which castle is closest to Bath?
Sham Castle is by far the closest, sitting on Bathampton Down on the hillside just east of the city, barely a couple of kilometres from the centre. It is a folly rather than a real fortress, freely reached on foot, and floodlit at night.
Are these castles free to visit?
Several are. Sham Castle, Nunney in Somerset and Ludgershall in Wiltshire can be visited freely, while Chepstow, Old Wardour and St Briavels are ticketed sites cared for by English Heritage or Cadw. Usk Castle, over towards the Welsh border, asks a small donation.
How far is Chepstow Castle from Bath?
Chepstow sits around thirty-six kilometres west of Bath, across the Severn in Monmouthshire. It is one of the oldest stone castles in Britain, perched above the River Wye, so it makes a rewarding day out from the city.
Conclusion
From a folly you can stroll to in an afternoon to ruins that need a proper drive across the Severn, Bath makes a fine base for castle hunting. Close at hand you have the mock walls of Sham Castle on the down and moated Nunney in its Somerset village.
Head into Wiltshire for Old Wardour beside its lake and the grassy banks of Ludgershall. West lies the richest haul, where Chepstow, St Briavels, Llangybi and Usk trace the Wye Valley and Monmouthshire, some free, some ticketed, and one still lived in.
Mix a short walk with a longer outing, check opening times before you go, and pack a picnic for the road. Whether you have a spare morning or a full day, these are the castles for a day trip from Bath.
