The Zog trail at Warwick Castle – Quest for the Golden Star

Here be dragons – well, we were joining Madam Dragon’s school as part of the new Zog trail at Warwick Castle, Zog and the Quest for the Golden Star.

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We’re big fans of Warwick Castle, which my daughter has been visiting since she was a toddler – one of our first summer days out after lockdown last year, we’ve visited Warwick at Christmas and stayed over in one of the lodges in the Knight’s Village. So we couldn’t resist checking out the Warwick Castle Zog trail as soon as it opened.

With a series of five stops leading you around the castle, little dragons progress from Year 1 to Year 5 following the dragon school curriculum from the Julia Donaldson book, with a new activity to try at each stage – starting and ending with a chance to pose with Zog himself, plus stamps to collect.

The first three stops are outside the castle walls themselves, with a trail card to pick up as soon as enter, along with the first chance to pose with Zog, and a map showing the locations.

It’s pretty hard to miss the first stops, along the path leading down to the Horrible Histories maze – which is also open (more on that below).

Then it’s straight on to task 1, learning to fly – and another nice photo opp, with the castle in the background and Zog with his wings spread, while part of the story is narrated in the background.

Having built up your basic dragon skills, it’s on to the more complicated lessons – and some more interactive fun for kids with the chance to jump and stamp.

Year 2 tackles roaring, with foot pads to make the dragon display raaargh as you hop up and down enthusiastically – age and weight definitely help here, as my eight-year-old had more success than a couple of rather lighter preschoolers.

In fact, she got into the spirit so much that she was leaping into the air to stamp her trail card as hard as humanly possible as well, leaving the imprint firmly pressed through – each one showing Zog tackling the same lesson.

The third activity was also great fun, with more leaping and crashing down onto the foot operated pads to squirt water at Zog, who was busy learning to breathe fire – including sudden spirals of billowing smoke.

Having arrived at the castle as the doors first reopened and the portcullis was raised (metaphorically at least), we had very happily whiled away almost half an hour on the first three stops before making it through the archway that leads into the inner court, looking out for the murder holes above.

Promising my daughter that we could come back to explore the Horrible Histories maze later – always one of her favourite parts – we set off to learn our final dragon lessons.

It’s a good idea to visit the Year 4 task early in the day if you can, as by the afternoon, it was unsurprisingly busier.

Scampering through the inner court and down to the river, spotting the fifth stop along the way, we had the fourth stop all to ourselves.

Which meant Minnie got several attempts at capturing a princess. In reality, the princess was ready and waiting, warmly welcoming small dragons to the activity course in the grounds near the trebuchet.

There’s an accessible trail around the outside, which was a lovely touch, as well as another created from logs and stumps for some light balancing and hopping, all overseen by a couple of princess scarecrows.

Apparently using your shield and sword helps you balance too. Who knew?

Having raced round, determined to beat her own best time (‘Now that you’ve been shown, you can practise on your own’), we headed back to our fifth stop, Sir Gadabout’s fighting arena.

With demonstrations of swordfighting from the knight at regular intervals – and the chance for a whole flight of dragons to wield their own – there were as many giggles coming from the arena as bloodthirsty cries.

Which meant our quest was complete – and around the corner, a triumphant Zog to celebrate with all those who reached the end.

Although even dragons have to socially distance at the moment, while we spotted princesses wearing rather decorative brocade masks as we explored, but although there are plenty of precautions in place, it’s easy to relax and simply enjoy the day out.

There’s so much space inside that even as it got busier throughout the day, it never felt hard to find a quiet space or keep a good distance away from other visitors.

The indoor areas of the castle were still closed when we visited, although all restrictions from 2021 have long since lifted.

The fabulous birds of prey show, Falconer’s Quest, was also temporarily suspended until May – another of my Warwick Castle highlights, with the birds soaring over the head of the audience (and, as my daughter gleefully remembered, one rather rebellious owl which wasn’t tempted by any treats and flew off to sit in the shelter of a tree).

But there’s plenty more to entertain as well as the Warwick Castle Zog trail, along with a few new additions.

Instead of meeting princesses in their tower or learning about the Kingmaker Earl in the exhibition, characters from the castle’s history roam the grounds – we had been greeted by the Earl of Warwick himself as we headed to the entrance, clad in armour, sitting astride his beautiful white steed with its decorative red horsecloth.

The effect was only slightly tempered by the fact that we discovered the horse’s name was… Sausage. (There was a rather grander show name, but Sausage was the everyday one. Loved it).

As well as various other family members, one of whom was fervently trying to convince a group of small visitors that his embroidered padded thigh-length jacket wasn’t actually a dressing gown, we spotted two duelling knights brandishing their weapons in the peacock garden.

The peacocks, evidently cross at not being the centre of attention, instantly started shrieking in a raucous chorus before strutting through the garden, and posing on the hedges next to the topiary birds, before a quick ‘who’s got the best tail’ competition.

Minnie practised her own peacock calls (unexpectedly convincing) before asking if ‘peacock keeper’ is a job.

The castle bowman was also demonstrating his skills, firing arrows across the river as well as over the river to a target on the far bank, while sharing his tips and a few bits of historical trivia as a crowd of small observers critiqued his shots.

Kids can show off their own skills as well with a series of archery targets not far from the water; this is one of the few activities which costs extra, at £5.

Armed with a gauntlet to protect her forearms – and plenty of ye olde medieval hand sanitiser, as our archery instructor put it – she decided it would definitely be less hazardous to be a peacock keeper than frontline on a medieval battlefield.

You can still climb up to the Conqueror’s fortress too, the mound where the original castle was first built, with plenty to read on the way up about the Normans, Saxons and the Battle of Hastings.

A few of the interactive signs aren’t in operation at the moment, understandably, but the views from the top are as wonderful as ever.

In the inner court itself, there’s a whole host of new picnic tables on the grass – needless to say, for now there’s no eating inside the cafes, although there are places to buy snacks, sandwiches, hot drinks and ice cream, including the conservatory tea house. (Bonus tip: the toilets behind this cafe, next to the peacock garden, always seem to be the quietest)

We brought our own picnic, but I definitely recommend the blueberry bakewell as a treat.

Refuelled again, we headed back to the Horrible Histories Maze, to check out those Vicious Vikings, Stormin Normans, Slimy Stuarts and more.

In fact, we went through twice – at least, I got a bit lost, but thankfully my daughter’s sense of direction is better then my own.

People were very good about distancing inside too, as the narrow passages and fact you’re going to wander around randomly mean you’ll inevitably meet other groups coming the other way.

Having joined a line-up for Gunpowder plotters – and checked her post-lockdown height, as well as discovering flour is as explosive as gunpowder – eyed up Norman helmets and Viking shields, boggled at the list of crimes worthy of horrible punishment in Tudor times, attempted to convince each other that we weren’t witches and wandered through a mocked up First World War trench, I finally towed her away.

Once she’d climbed over the final obstacle course out, that is. Twice. There’s a less tricky path for grown-ups, thankfully.

I had wondered on my last visit how an ancient castle like Warwick, which had seen off rebellion, war and siege, would cope with a pandemic. After another very fun family day out, I’ve discovered this is one place which can happily cope with dragons too.

Need to know: Zog trail at Warwick Castle

Tickets do not need to be prebooked but there’s a discount if you do, plus special toddler & parent options available.

The Warwick Castle Zog trail – Zog and the Quest for the Golden Star is included in the price of entry.

The Knight’s Village accommodation is also open, so you can stay overnight in the grounds too.

Check out my review of a stay in the Knight’s Village lodges and my pick of the best UK castles with kids

PIN FOR LATER: WARWICK CASTLE ZOG TRAIL

Disclosure: My visit was free for the purposes of review – all opinions and mildly bloodthirsty small girls are my own. This post contains affiliate links – any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission

Images copyright MummyTravels

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