Château De Coucy

France is steeped in history, from châteaus to world war one battlefields, there are some beautiful places to visit and whilst on holiday, we stopped at the charming Château De Coucy.

Once upon a time, this magnificent castle was the 3rd most visited monument in France, after Versailles and Mont St-Michel. At that time, a 54 meter keep stood over the landscape, this magnificent and gigantic architectural masterpiece was wiped off the face of the earth by German Soldiers toward the end of WW1.

The whole town was once within the walls of the castle and even today you have to drive through the gates to get in and out of the town.

Looking over the walls to see how far we can see, the views from up here were stunning.

The kids were absolutely historical seeing this goat looking out through the wall, there were lots of them about but this one did make us chuckle.

It is sad to see it as ruins but it is still a beautiful place and so much history to absorb, around the site, there were lots of models, pictures and information showing out how it would have looked at different points in time.

Here is the keep as it looked prior to the war and here it is after, very sad but it is a price that was paid.

The view was stunning from every angle of the castle and the brick work was beautiful.

I loved these flowers within the wall, like natures own picture frame.

Down in the caves it was very cold and you can see where they store all of the bits of castle that have yet to be displayed.

The castle was huge and it certainly gave us lots to talk about and run around and see, amazing to think about all the people that have lived and visited here.

It really was a beautiful castle and well worth the five euros entry fee!