Pickering Castle

The motte and bailey rise up abruptly from the market town, impossible to miss once you're wandering Pickering's high street. Built by the Normans in 1067, the castle's been doing the same job for nearly a thousand years - standing guard over the Vale of Pickering, watching the roads, reminding everyone who's in charge.

What you actually get is a proper climb up the mound to a keep that's been rebuilt and restored more times than most people change jobs. The views from the top justify the huffing and puffing, especially if you've caught a clear day. You can see right across the vale, and on a good afternoon the light's soft enough to make even the caravan parks look pleasant. The outer bailey is where the real archaeology happens - the remains of stone walls tell you this was genuinely important once.

Histoire buffs will spend a solid couple of hours here, poking around the interpretive boards and mentally reconstructing what stood where. Children will get bored after forty minutes unless they're the type who need to climb every possible surface. It's free entry, run by English Heritage, and the visitor facilities are decent without being fancy.

If you're based at Lakeside Caravan Park or Swallowtails just down the road, this is genuinely worth the short walk. It breaks up a caravan holiday nicely - gives you a reason to explore Pickering proper, grab lunch in town, then head back to base. Not spectacular, but solid and honest. That's North Yorkshire castles for you.