Castles always fascinated me as a child. I remember many summer holidays playing in the grassy ruins of various fortifications, trying to imagine what trechery must have taken place and what blood and guts must have been spilled in them over the centuries. 

When I was at school in Scotland in the late 1990s, some of my friends up there actually lived in castles, but that was to be expected, I suppose.

Needless to say, I myself do not live in a castle, but I do occasionally have the good fortune to stay in one, as I did earlier on a weekend trip to Peckforton Castle in Cheshire.

Winding through the Cheshire lanes on the way there, you can just about make it out peeking from between the trees.

With its turrets sticking out above the canopy, the castle looks other-worldly, and as far away from the chaos of the city as its possible to do. Which, on a Friday night after a hectic week, is no bad thing at all.

The driveway up to the castle is steep and winding, and as you summit you are greeted by the forbidding sight of the walls and ramparts, rising up from the grass mounds and the moat below. 

We made our way towards the main entrance, across the courtyard with its manicured lawn and the beady-eyed birds of pray sitting on their perches in the open-air aviary. Inside, the light was low, the decor a mix of cool grey stone walls, lush deep carpets and ornate woodwork.

The air hung with the smell of wood smoke and the rich food aromas wafting from the 1851 Restaurant upstairs. Our room was as stately as we would have expected, and the depth of the window sills gave you a good impression of just how thick those castle walls are.

The bed was gigantic and the bathroom, with its high pressure power shower, was more than welcome to scrub the city away. The 1851 restaurant, tucked away up at the top of the stairs above the reception, has fabulous views of the courtyard, in which the remnants of a wedding party were entertaining themselves. 

The menu was compact but varied, with some extremely intriguing options: not least the Woodland starter, which I opted for. The dish consisted of roast quail and its eggs, along with snail, nettle and wild garlic.

The idea of eating nettles (although on my darker days I do sometimes get told I've got a face like a bulldog chewing one), but I have to say the peppery, spinachy flavour was a welcome surprise. Equally, the snail with its earthy taste and livery texture really did invoke a walk in the forest.

My girlfriend went for the vegetarian option of the curds and whey, which was a novel blend of goats cheese, fennel granola and beetroot. For the main, I couldn't resist the surf and turf, which was a big old piece of grilled fillet with Scottish scallops and langoustine.

One of the beautiful rooms at Peckferton Castle
One of the beautiful rooms at Peckferton Castle

While the fillet and scallop were perfect and melted in the mouth, the langoustine, sitting eyeballing me through most of the meal, was a little more trouble than it was worth.

By the time I'd extracted the meat, what little there was in there made it all a bit too much of a fuss. But my girl seemed to be more than impressed with the toasted pumpkin seed fondant with artichoke thistle and burnt leeks. Given how secluded the castle is, there's little to do after dinner except sit by the fireplaces and digest with an old malt or a brandy.

Certainly the quiet end to our first night there was going to be a stark contrast to the hair-raising antics of the next morning. For part of the Peckforton Castle site boasts a Land Rover off-roading centre, from which one can venture out in one of the luxury four wheel drives and try your luck on the winding tracks that snake up the steep hillsides behind the estate.

Driving at 45 degree angles and along ridges atop cliff faces hundreds of feet high is as exhilarating as it is terrifying, but it's probably best not to go to take full advantage of the excellent full English breakfast before you trek out on this lumpy, bumpy ride.  But our trusty driver showed us both the ropes, and we (and, amazingly, the £60,000-plus vehicle) managed to come away unscathed.

The castle, we learned just as we were about to leave, did not date back to medieval times but was in fact begun in 1842 and completed just under a decade later.

It is by no means hard to believe that the project took John Tollemache the best part of 10 years, given the splendour of the building, or that it was used as a location for a 1991 Robin Hood film (not Prince of Thieves, but the one with Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman that no-one remembers).

Still, no matter, for what the castle misses in history it more than makes up in grandeur and romance.

FACTFILE

Peckforton Castle, Stone House Lane, Peckforton, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 9TN.

Bed and breakfast or dinner, bed and breakfast packages are available for one night stays on both Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. 
B&B is from £135.50 per room based on two people sharing a double room.

Dinner, B&B is from £185.50 based on two sharing a double room.

Executive and four poster upgrades are available. Reservations can be made on 01829 260 930.Visit www.peckfortoncatsle.co.uk for more information on deals and rates.