A few miles from Bristol lies Thornbury Castle, a creation that’s been a beautiful place to stay for half a millennium — though the guests today are tourists rather than the Tudor royal household.
A little while ago on a trip to Lacock — the National Trust-owned village in Wiltshire — I came across a second-hand Ladybird book called Adventure at the Castle. It transported me instantly back to primary school, a wave of nostalgia as I looked through the classic…