Dunster Castle

There has been a castle on the tor at Dunster since the Norman period, and the Luttrell family held it from 1376 to 1976, when it passed to the National Trust; six hundred years of one family means an unusual continuity of contents. The medieval fortress was largely dismantled after a Civil War siege, and what stands is a country house remodelled by Anthony Salvin in the 1860s into a picturesque castle silhouette, with a Jacobean staircase carved with hunting scenes surviving inside from an earlier phase, and seventeenth-century leather wall hangings. The subtropical garden on the sheltered south terrace grows a lemon tree outdoors. Below, the village has an octagonal yarn market of 1609, built when Dunster cloth was traded, and a working watermill on the Avill.

Highlights

• The Salvin silhouette - a Victorian remodelling into picturesque castle form.
• The Jacobean staircase - carved with hunting scenes, from the earlier house.
• The terrace garden - subtropical planting including an outdoor lemon.
• The yarn market - an octagonal 1609 market building in the village.

When to go

April to October for house and garden; the parkland and village are open year-round and the castle runs winter events. The West Somerset Railway operates steam services to Dunster station in season.

Good to know

The castle is a Victorian country house in castle dress rather than a medieval fortress, which disappoints some. The climb from the village is steep, with a shuttle for those who need it. Parking is in the village and charged.

Nearby

Exmoor rises immediately south; Minehead and the coast lie north.

Key facts