Surrounded by shrubs, Manobier Castle appears to fit perfectly into the Welsh countryside. In the past, castles were effective for defense but not exactly comfortable. Often all the residents—the lord, his family, and all his knights, soldiers, and serfs—lived in one large room, the great hall. With few windows and little ventilation, life in a castle was dank, dark, and dirty.
(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic Book Discovering Great Britain and Ireland, 1985)
