My five favourite castles, by Country Life's Architectural Editor John Goodall

Castles & Estates

Listen to Dr John Goodall on the Country Life podcast as he names his five favourite castles in Britain — and then adds a bonus castle with 1,000 years of extraordinary history.

Britain’s landscape is dotted with quite incredible castles, from towering and imposing masterpieces to crumbling, romantic ruins. In this week’s podcast, we speak to Country Life magazine’s Architectural Editor, John Goodall — the man who literally wrote the book on castles — to find out which five are his very favourites.

John picks out five wonderful castles which show the full range of Britain’s architectural legacy: Headingham, Knaresborough, Lancaster, Belvoir (pronounced ‘Beaver’) and Castle Drogo. And then he throws in a very special extra bonus castle at the end — arguably the greatest castle on the face of the planet, whose fate has been intertwined with that of the Royal Family for 1,000 years.

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The Country Life podcast is hosted by James Fisher; it’s produced and edited by Toby Keel; the music is by JuliusH; and special thanks to Future’s Head of Podcasts, Adam Wilbourn.