Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire

Sir Niklaus Pevsner considered 'Of all the ruinous castles in England, Kenilworth is undoubtedly one of the grandest. It has superb Norman, 14th Century and Elizabethan work, and where, on the way back from the Plaisaunce, one sees all three together and all three in the strong yet mellow red of their sandstone, the view could not be bettered.' The keep was constructed by Henry II, and the curtain wall by King John. John of Gaunt then passed the castle to his son Henry IV, and it remained in royal hands until Elizabeth I gave it to her favourite Robert Dudley in 1563, who was thereafter created Earl of Leicester in 1564.