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The romantic ruins crowning the hill behind the village of CORFE CASTLE (daily: March 10am-5pm; April-Oct 10am-6pm; Nov-Feb 10am-4pm; GBP4.20; NT) are perhaps the most evocative in England. The family seat of Sir John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I, this Royalist stronghold withstood a Cromwellian siege for six weeks, gallantly defended by Lady Bankes. One of her own men, Colonel Pitman, eventually betrayed the castle to the Roundheads, after which it was reduced to its present gap-toothed state by gunpowder. Apparently the victorious Roundheads were so impressed by Lady Bankes's courage that they allowed her to take the keys to the castle with her - they can still be seen in the library at the Bankes's subsequent home, Kingston Lacy. The village is well stocked with tearooms and gift shops and has a couple of good pubs too: the Fox on West Street, and, below the castle ramparts, the Greyhound . For moderately priced accommodation , head for The Old Curatage , 30 East St (tel 01929/481441; under GBP40), or the Bankes Arms Hotel (tel 01929/480206; GBP40-50), an old inn outside the castle entrance.
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