Key facts
- Operator
- National Trust
- Condition
- Intact
- Access
- Staffed, ticketed
Pinpoint
Bangor LL57 4HT
Telephone 01248 353084
Possible Opening hours
Opening times change. Always check the official website before you travel.
| Monday | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Tuesday | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Wednesday | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Thursday | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Friday | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
| Saturday | 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM |
| Sunday | 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM |
A Victorian country house built to look like a Norman castle rather than one that ever needed to defend anything — the Pennant family raised it in the 1800s on fortune from the Welsh slate industry, and National Trust interpretation doesn't shy from that history's harder side alongside the architecture. The grounds are the real draw as much as the house: extensive gardens, a walled garden reviewers rate among the best they've seen, and views back to Snowdonia.
Worth the trip
The walled garden — reviewers repeatedly single it out as one of the finest they've visited.
Before you go
The house isn't always open (check before travelling if that's the priority), but the gardens and grounds make for a full visit on their own, even on a day when it's shut.
Reviewers consistently describe Penrhyn Castle as a grand, imposing property with lavish interiors and a genuinely interesting connection to the local slate industry, and several single out the gardens and grounds as a highlight in their own right. A couple of visitors found parts of the house or garden closed for renovation work during their visit, which was a minor disappointment, but even those who couldn't get inside still felt the grounds alone made for a worthwhile visit.
19th-century neo-Norman castle
“Lovely walk around. Would like to visit again when more of the house is open. Gardens are an easy walk, not long at all. Walled garden is probably one of the most beautiful in my experience, but a lot was still being…”— Carly Hayward, visitor review
