Also, to the right of the entrance, there is a flight of stairs leading down to a passage that follows the south wall, clearly showing the wall excavated in 1889, and on the other side of the passageway is an amazing mural created in 1983 that depicts Celtic life before, during, and after the arrival of the Romans. The gate in the north wall is an accurate reconstruction of a typical Roman gate in a fort.

After the Romans, the site was used by the Norman, who built a Motte and Bailey style Keep in the middle of the castle grounds.

Successive noble families made their mark by adding and destroying features of the castle, and at one point, Capability Brown was employed to landscape the grounds.

In 1766, the castle came into possession of the future Marquess of Bute, and it was the second Marquess (see general tips) who was responsible for the monumental building programme in conjunction with William Burgess to create the Victorian Gothic masterpiece that we see today.

You can either pay for access to the grounds or for a guided tour giving you access to the main building, which you would be foolish to miss, as it delves into the history of the building and the fine artwork on display!

Living in Cardiff, I was able to take advantage of the Cardiff Castle Pass scheme, which, for £5, gives you access to the grounds for 5 years and half-off tours and special events.

Once you’ve conquered Cardiff Castle, why not check out Castell Coch next – you can see it from the Keep!

Time check: 5.15pm. My journey begins… The Clock Tower has three levels and the spiral staircase has 102 steps! By the time I reached to the top, my head is spinning. The design and marvelous architecture in each room is simply fabulous. The first floor of the Clock Tower is the "Winter smoking room". There are many amazing facts behind the design on the walls of this room. The ceiling has pictures of the 12 zodiac symbols and the top parts of the walls have a scenario of the four seasons. The best part is the six tainted windows with the picture of the Gods of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Now where is Sunday? Sunday is symbolized by the Sun, which is in the middle of the ceiling surrounded by the 12 zodiacs. Now that’s what I called creativity. It really is amazing how they design the room.

The second floor is the "Bachelor suite" belongs to the third Marquess of Bute, who is the great grandson of John, son of the Earl of Bute. He constructed the room before he was married therefore the bed is only a single-sized bed.

The third floor is the "Summer smoking room". There’s a picture of a sun in the middle of the floor and there are pictures of humans and various animals circling it. The guide said that the closest a picture is to the sun, the shorter it’s life span is and vice versa. After the tour, I had to go all the way down with the spiral staircase and I can swear that I was unable to walk straight once I reached downstairs.