Clavering Castle

You'll find little more than a grassy mound and some earthwork banks where Clavering Castle once stood - and that's rather the appeal. This is proper medieval history in its rawest form, just outside the village of Clavering near Royston. The castle was a motte-and-bailey fortress built sometime after the Norman Conquest, though what you're looking at now is the ghost of what it once was.

Walking up the motte gives you a sense of how these early fortifications worked - a simple but effective design that dominated the landscape for centuries. There's no keep standing, no walls to explore, just the earthworks and your imagination. History enthusiasts will find it fascinating; families with younger kids might find twenty minutes is about right before they get restless.

It's free and you can visit anytime, as there's no gated entrance or visitor centre - just access from the lane. The walk from the village is straightforward. Given it's only a couple of miles from Pightle Farm Campsite, it could slot nicely into a park holiday in the area as a morning wander before heading elsewhere. The Essex countryside around here is pleasant enough, though it won't take long to see what there is to see.

Don't expect Château drama or castle silhouettes for Instagram. What you get instead is a chance to stand where Norman lords once did, and that's reason enough if you're into early medieval England.