Castle builders: dreams and decorations - castles as houses and palaces | Documentary history

It’s a tale that will to take us to the astonishing châteaux of the Loire and to a castle in Germany which has been in the hands of the same family for thirty-three generations. It will also lead us into an industrial age where the castle surprisingly gets a new lease of life. We’ll see why the castle’s appeal has always rested on its dual purpose – as a fortress and a residence.

We’ll visit Windsor on the outskirts of London which features two contrasting faces of the castle in our modern world. Windsor Castle is a tourist destination of global significance, one of the principal homes of British royalty. Its status as a symbol glorifying the English monarchy dates back hundreds of years – to the reign of Edward III in the fourteenth-century. Within sight of the real Windsor Castle, the Legoland resort trades on the excitement that the castle represents for the modern family. It has a castle-themed roller-coaster and its medieval citadel built in plastic bricks takes pride of place as a global icon alongside world cities like London, Amsterdam and Paris.

More than any other historical structure, the castle retains a grip on our imaginations – as a reminder of the brutality of medieval times and as a symbol of a Golden Age. For children of all ages, the work of the Castle Builders still fascinates.