Leicester's Building

The ruins of Leicester's Building rise from Kenilworth Castle's grounds like a reminder of how the mighty do fall. This is what's left of a grand residential tower built by Robert Dudley, Elizabeth I's favourite, back in the 1570s - basically a statement in stone saying "look how important I am". The walls still stand tall enough to give you a sense of the scale, though the floors and roof are long gone. You walk through empty chambers and look up at the sky where ceilings once were.

It's a proper attraction for anyone into Tudor history or castle ruins. If you're here with kids under ten, they'll get bored within fifteen minutes - there's not much to touch or climb, and the narrative isn't obvious. Teenagers and adults doing the full Kenilworth Castle tour will find it worth the twenty-minute detour across the grounds.

Admission comes with your main castle ticket, and you can wander the ruins freely. Spend ten to fifteen minutes here depending on how much you read the information boards. The real payoff is seeing how ambitious Dudley's building plans were, even if his tower never quite became the showpiece he'd intended.

Stay at one of the caravan parks nearby - Mousley House Farm or Gate Farm are both within five miles. Warwick itself is just down the road, so you could combine this with Warwick Castle or the town's other attractions in a long afternoon. The setting makes sense once you're standing in the ruins: Dudley built big, but time eventually wins.