My husband and I just returned from an amazing trip through England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so this book seemed like the perfect Christmas gift for him. The book has beautiful photographs of some of the best known castles, however I was a little disappointed that the information on each castle was minimal. I was hoping for a little more background history on each one. I was also disappointed that our favorite, Ross Castle in Killarney Ireland was not included. Overall, it will make a nice keepsake to remember a trip of a lifetime, and I'm sure will have a place of honor on our coffee table for some time.

Firstly what a wonderful name for an author of such a book, secondly what a wonderful book he has written. The British Isles is littered with castles of varying sizes and in various states of repair, or disrepair as the case may be. This book attempts to give you a guided tour of some of the best and there are far more than you think that are complete or almost complete.

Many of the most famous castles in our history have crumbled to little more than a pile of stones and we can only romanticise about how they looked, who built them and lived there and the events that occurred during their long history

But on the reverse of the coin we have castles that are still inhabited even today and one of the oldest, the tower of London is still in an excellent state of repair. Windsor is inhabited by the Queen and Warwick Castle and Leeds Castle look almost as good as the day they were built.

In Scotland, Edinburgh and Stirling have stood the rigours of time and Caernarfon Castle in Wales is a legacy of Edward I, being built on the site of what was a Roman fortress and then a Norman motte and bailey. Another Welsh castle in the beautiful town of Conway has not stood the test of time so well, but the superstructure is more or less still there. There is something magical about a castle when you are inside it. Perhaps it is the presence of long dead residents, or the mighty deeds and events that happened within those enormous walls. Whatever it is this book helps to bring to life our history with a profusion of photographs and information galore. Almost everyone likes a Castle and this book takes you on a enchanting tour from ruins through to the splendour of a fully preserved structure.

I really wanted a nice comprehensive book about this subject. This is a wonderful product but the only thing I would suggest to make this a 5 star book would be more intensive pictures. There are a lot (multitudes in fact) of places, castles, ruins that are simply listed with no pictures or in-depth facts to accompany the listings. That was somewhat disappointing.