Chirk Castle is open from 3 February to 4 November in 2018. We are also open on November weekends and from 8 to 23 December. Outside of these dates Chirk Castle is closed to visitors. To check exactly what is open, and when, you can go to our website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle and click on Opening times In February, March, October, November and December you can visit the castle and gardens from 10am to 4pm. From April to September you can visit the castle and gardens from 10am to 5pm. Some of the inside rooms, called the State Rooms, are only open from midday (12 noon). The estate is open for walking from 7am to 7pm. Chirk Castle is 2 miles from Chirk village, in the county of Wrexham. The post code is LL14 5AF. There are brown tourism road signs showing directions to Chirk Castle from the village. Full directions and a map are available on our website, you can go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle and click on How to get here
After you go past the welcome sign onto the Chirk Castle estate, follow the drive and the signs to the car park. Spaces in the car park are not marked. Please park in any free space, in line with other cars. If you have a Blue Badge disability card you can park in one of the marked disabled spaces. Look out for this sign. If all of the disabled spaces are taken, then please use the next closest available space.
To enter Chirk Castle, the gardens or the Pleasure Ground Wood you will need a ticket. To get your ticket please go to the Ticket Office, next to the car park follow the sign that reads Tickets and information Tickets are free for National Trust members. If you are not a National Trust member you will need to pay for your ticket. Prices can be found on the welcome board in the car park, or on our website www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle by clicking on Prices If you do not want to enter the castle, gardens or Pleasure Ground Wood you do not need a ticket. You are able to walk on the estate for free. On this map, the area that you need a ticket to enter is marked in yellow.
The ticket office is located next to the car park. If you want to visit the castle, gardens or Pleasure Ground wood you need to go to the ticket office to get your ticket. The staff working in the ticket office wear black uniform, and have name badges. If you are a member of the National Trust they will ask to see your card so they can scan it. If you are not a member you will need to pay for your ticket. You will be given a sticker so that staff can see you have an admission ticket. You can either wear this on your clothing, or you, or a parent or someone you are travelling with, can keep it to show staff when asked. If the sticker falls off your clothing you can get another one at the Ticket Office, or up at the castle. Please ask a member of staff. In the ticket office you will also get a map so you can find your way around. The ticket office is quite a small room and can be noisy on busy days, such as weekends or during school holidays.
The main shop is located at Home Farm, which is the name of the buildings just after you go through the Ticket office. This shop has a large range of items to buy. There is also another smaller shop located in the castle, which you can get to from the courtyard. This courtyard shop is not open all the time. To buy something you need to take it to the counter to pay the member of staff.
To get up to the castle you can either walk or go on the visitor shuttle bus. If you want to walk go to the left out of the Ticket office, and follow the signs for castle and garden It takes 5 10 minutes to walk to the castle, and there is a steep hill to walk up. There is a visitor shuttle bus that can take visitors up to the castle. This runs from 10:30am. The shuttle bus does not run every day, if you want to make sure the shuttle bus is running on the day of your visit please contact us using the details at the end of this document. The shuttle bus has room for 8 passengers. The shuttle bus can also take one wheelchair passenger, using a hydraulic lift on the back. If you would like to use the shuttlebus please ask in the Ticket office. The shuttle bus drivers are volunteers, so may be wearing normal clothes and name badges, or uniform. The shuttle bus stops running 15 minutes before the property closes. So in February, March, October, November and December this is 3:45pm. From April to September this is 4:45pm. When you are up at the castle, if you need the shuttle bus to get back to the car park please ask a member of staff who will use their radio to call the driver.
The entrance to the castle is called the Portcullis. Go through the portcullis to get into the courtyard. There is a board in the portcullis where tour times are listed. If you would like to go on a tour wait next to the tour board at the time written on the board. If there are no times on the board then there are no tours available. There are 9 doors leading off the courtyard that you can use to visit different parts of the castle. There are other locked doors that visitors are not allowed to use. The doors you can use to enter parts of the castle are marked on the map below. Please do not enter up the ramp into the East Wing as this door is to exit only, unless you use a wheelchair. There is a sign at this location which reads wheelchair access only.
You can look at the menu behind the counter to see what is available to eat and drink. There are also ice creams, sandwiches, cakes and cold drinks on the counter that you can choose. Take food and drinks from the counter to the till, and order any hot food or drinks that you would like. You can pay for food at the till. If you order any hot food the person behind the counter will give you a number on a stand. Take this number with you to your table and the café staff will bring your order to you. You can sit in the café, outside in the courtyard, or in the overflow seating area in the tower to find the overflow seating area follow the signs on the wall. You can only eat food in the café that has been bought in the café. It can be crowded and therefore noisy in the café some of the time, particularly on weekends or when the schools are on holiday.
There is a smaller shop located in the courtyard. This shop sells similar items to those in the main shop, but may not have all of the items that are available in the main shop. Male and female toilets are located in the corner of the courtyard. Look for signs on the wall to indicate where. The male toilet is inside and then to the left. The female toilet is inside and then straight ahead down the steps There is also an accessible toilet which you can get to from the courtyard. Look out for the accessible toilet sign on the wall. Baby change facilities are located in the female toilets and in the accessible toilet. There are hand driers in the toilets which you may find noisy.
To visit the State Rooms please go to the stone steps to the right of the entrance to the café. These have a sign on which reads Welcome A member of staff will greet you at the top of the steps, and will tell you key messages and rules to follow during your visit. You can see 15 different rooms on your visit to the State Rooms. There are room cards in each room where you can learn information about the history of the room and the items in it. If you need more information there is also a room book in each room. Most rooms have a volunteer or member of staff in who you can ask if you want more information about the room.
There are rules that you must follow when visiting the State Rooms. Please do not touch any of the items in the rooms. There are room books that you can use if you would like to read about the rooms. You are not allowed to cross any of the ropes. You are allowed to take photos inside the State Rooms, but you are not allowed to use flash. You cannot eat in the State Rooms You cannot drink in the State Rooms You are only allowed to sit on seats that do not have holly on them. You cannot wear shoes with heels smaller than a 10p piece in the State Rooms You are not allowed to take an umbrella, toy sword, bow, or ball in the State Rooms You must leave all backpacks at the entrance. The member of staff at the entrance will put a tag on your bag with a number, and give you one with the same number. Please keep this tag and give it back when you collect your bag.
You can go into the Adam Tower through a door from the courtyard In the Adam tower there are seven rooms to look at. There are two levels above that you can get to by going up the stairs. When you get to the top you can exit by coming back down the way you went up. There is a two level dungeon that you can enter through a door on the ground floor level. The steps to the dungeon are steep and uneven so please take care when going up and down. There is a rope you can use as a handrail. When you get to the bottom you can exit by going back up the way you came down. In the Adam Tower you may see staff dressed in medieval costume. You can ask them if you would like any more information about the castle and its medieval history, or if you would like to touch or try on any of the armour on the ground floor.
To go into the gardens you will need to go back out of the Portcullis. The garden entrance is to the right. There is a sign that reads Welcome to the garden There are two ways into the garden, one is through the gate into the formal garden and the other is along the grass pass towards the Pleasure Ground Wood. You can enter or exit from either path. No dogs or bicycles are allowed in the garden. This map shows the paths in the garden.
If you want to walk on the estate without visiting the castle or gardens you do not need an admission ticket. There are 4 marked walks that you can follow. You can see these walks on the map below. Each walk is marked on site by coloured posts that you can follow.
Visitor Assistants wear a black or red uniform with a National Trust logo on it, and have a name badge. You can ask them for help if you need to. You can also ask them for information about the castle. Volunteers or other staff may be wearing normal clothes, but will have a National Trust name badge. You can ask them for information about the castle. If you need help please ask any member of staff or volunteer wearing a badge. They can contact other staff for assistance using the radio. If required we can take you to a quiet space, and find out what help is needed. We can also use the phone to contact someone if needed. If you are with another person and you get separated please ask a member of staff or a volunteer wearing a badge and they can help you.
Our address is: Chirk Castle Chirk LL14 5AF Our main phone number is: 01691 777 701 Our email address is: chirkcastle@nationaltrust.org.uk Our website address is: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chirk-castle Our Facebook page can be found at: www.facebook.com/chirkcastlent/