Award Winning Rockingham Castle stands on the edge of an escarpment giving dramatic views over five counties & the Welland Valley below.  Built by William the Conqueror, the Castle was a royal residence for 450 years.  In the 16th century Henry VIII granted it to Edward Watson and for 450 years it has remained a family home.  The pre-dominantly Tudor building, within Norman walls, has architecture, furniture and works of art from practically every century including, unusually, a remarkable collection of 20th century pictures.  Charles Dickens was a regular visitor to the Castle and based Chesney Wolds in Bleak House on Rockingham.

Surrounding the Castle & are some 12 acres of gardens largely following the foot print of the medieval castle.  The vast 400 year old “Elephant Hedge” dissects the formal 17th century terraced gardens.  The circular yew hedge stands on the site of the motte and bailey and provides shelter for the Rose Garden.  Outside of which stands the newly created ‘Room Garden’.  Using Yew hedging, shrubs and herbaceous planting this beautiful garden draws visitors in to the ‘rooms’ via series of radial Yew hedges each enclosing a separate garden.  Below the Castle is the beautiful 19th century “Wild Garden” replanted with advice from Kew Gardens during the early 1960’s.  Included in the gardens are many specimen trees & shrubs including the remarkable Handkerchief Tree.

The Castle has been the location for many regional news items featuring the events taking place at the Castle.  In addition Scrapheap Challenge, Bargain Hunt, Flog It, Diary of a Duchess, Terry Jones’s  Medieval Lives, a scene for a Bollywod film staring Aishwarya Rai and many more have been filmed at the Castle.

For more information on the castle visit http://www.rockinghamcastle.com/

Contact:
Andrew Norman, Operations Manager, Rockingham Castle
Telephone 01536 770 240