I am a big fan of castles (clearly) so anytime we take a drive in the English countryside I see if there are any good ones, coming to or from. When we went to Tinwood Estate in West Sussex I saw on the map that Arundel Castle was only a 20 min detour on our way home. Thus I decided to made it the focal point of our Sunday like most things nowadays in COVID times we bought timed tickets for the castle and this allowed us to explore the grounds and gardens as well as the main house. I took over 300 photos on our visit to Arundel Castle and while I tried really hard to cut them down I am going to split our visit up in two posts, one of the Arundel Castle Gardens and one of the inside, to give you a full picture of this beautiful castle!
Based on the way the property is laid out we decided to explore the grounds and visit the gardens first. The gardens were seriously “wow”. I am not sure what i was expecting but perhaps manicured lawns and some roses but opposite the main house through a gate that reminded me of the secret garden there is a whole Mecca not to be missed. Between the Italian style fountains, grotto, greenhouse, and giant sunflowers there is a surprise around every corner. When you are looking West in the Garden you can see the top of the massive Cathedral towering above the hedges and it gives the whole garden a regal air plus helps remind you that you are exploring the grounds of a castle. There was also a sign on the greenhouse that the fruits and vegetables grown are all used by the residents which helped me remember unlike most places we visit, this castle is still inhabited.
After we toured the main house – full post coming soon – we also visited the pond at the back of the castle which after everything else was a bit stark in comparison but still pretty. And lastly, some of the arial views of Arundel are out of this world, including one below because I do not have a cool shot like this (though buying a drone has crossed my mind more than once!), so check out this photo from Hand Luggage only (arial photo source) below:
Would you want to visit Arundel Castle?

Pauline says
Is that castle as big as it looks….it looks enormous. I can’t even imagine how many people can live inside of it and how much work it is to maintain it or clean all those windows. YIKES.
Beautiful though and looks like it is really well preserved! Spotty Beam me up right now to go there.
Christa says
Castles, Castles and more castles. I will never get tired of looking and exploring virtually through you of castles. How many different shapes and sizes there are and now that I now the difference between a castle and a palace I take an extra close look.
Such attention to detail in this architecture. A+ Kelly.
Linda Hilliard says
Wow, quite a place! I look forward to seeing the inside on a future post!
Emma says
Arundel Castle is so petty. That photo you have from the top of the hill looking down, super. Really also like the little water area where the urns or whatever you call them are streaming out water behind the planters of some very pretty purple flower.
Looks like a great way to spend a sunny afternoon so yes, I would gladly want to visit Arundel Castle
Wendy says
It is crazy how many gorgeous castles you have over there. How they built them, had the money to construct and maintain them and the history is so impressive.
Glad you are getting to explore so many of them.