The Castle Hotel gives visitors a softer route into Somerset’s past, with Norman Gardens set behind one of Taunton’s oldest hotel addresses. The hotel has operated for 400 years, on the site of a Norman fortress, with a 12th-century walled garden still shaping the experience today. For anyone visiting Taunton, the sequence is simple: old stone, garden paths, and champage afternoon tea.
Norman Gardens is not just attached to the hotel; it belongs to the original castle site. In the early 1930s, the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society exposed the foundations of the moat wall and keep, bringing the former stronghold back into view. Today, those layers make Norman Gardens feel less like hotel landscaping and more like Taunton history in open air.
