Corfe Castle on its hill overlooking the village in the Isle of Purbeck
On August 11, 2010, we visited Corfe Castle in the Isle of Purbeck, East Dorset. We didn’t realise until the morning that it happened to be the birthday of children’s book writer Enid Blyton, who featured Corfe as Kirrin Castle in her Famous Five books. So it was a busier day than usual at the tourist attraction.
The castle also features in the science fiction alternative history novel Pavane by Keith Roberts – one of my favourites.
This is just a teaser but you can look at a complete picture gallery of the Corfe Castle trip on my blog page here.
Corfe Castle was the largest and most beautiful medieval castle in Dorset, but was destroyed by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, having held out against siege for years under the leadership of “Brave Lady Mary” (Lady Mary Bankes).
Corfe Castle viewed from the Outer Bailey - great clouds!
It’s now a romantic ruin with views over a gap towards the sea at Poole and is run by the National Trust.
A beautiful flower among the ruins - I think this is a relative of the speedwell (Veronica)...
There are plenty of places to eat a light lunch after climbing to the top of the castle.
The Bankes Arms in Corfe Castle does a great sandwich with local crab...
You can also see the Church of St Edward King and Martyr with its 14th century tower.
Part of the lovely stained glass in Corfe Castle church - it reads 'He maketh the storm to cease so that the waves thereof are still'
And if you can’t get enough of Corfe, there’s also a model village – it was opened in 1966 and is built to a 1/20th scale. Go to the official website here.
Corfe Castle in its unruined state in the model village
It even has its own model village within the model village…
The model village within the model village at Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle is on the Swanage Railway, which is run by volunteers and uses steam trains
And here's one of those steam trains pulling into Corfe Castle station
Click here to find out more about the Swanage Railway.
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