Castell Coch, Wales

Round towers with pointed conical caps and a drawbridge, set among woods on a hillside just north of Cardiff. Castell Coch, the Red Castle, is a Victorian dream built on the ruins of a medieval one. In 1875 the immensely rich 3rd Marquess of Bute commissioned the architect William Burges to rebuild it, and Burges raised the towers and gave them conical roofs, drawing on French Gothic models. The result looks more like an Alpine storybook castle than anything else in Wales. The fantasy continues indoors, where painted rooms are crowded with birds, butterflies and scenes from Aesop's fables, so it rewards a visit inside as well as the view from the drive.