The Legend of the Trebuchet at Warwick Castle

Our time at Warwick Castle was simply unforgettable. It’s not every day you wander around a castle and see a ginormous trebuchet in the distance! We had seen signs reporting that the siege machine returns with a new trebuchet, but we hadn’t expected the centuries-old design to be quite so realistic. Bertie was immediately intrigued by it and began asking a million questions. When we got to it, the show was part-way through, so we convinced Bertie to have a walk around the rest of the castle grounds with the promise of returning to the trebuchet for the next legend of the trebuchet show.

I’m glad we did wait, because we would have missed some integral parts of the story. Also, as a bonus, we had ice cream while Barnaby napped on the grass throughout the action-packed show (although some raucous children on a school trip nearly trod on him more than once – little help was given by their supervising teachers!).

The epic show combines live action with an educational show all about the mighty trebuchet. The castle’s most unlikely heroes come head to head with oncoming invaders and decide to use the huge catapult to defeat them. 

The trebuchet show is told from across the bank of the river Avon, so the actors and special effects are quite far away from the audience – there is a fabulous PA system, but it did make it quite hard to see and therefore Bertie lost interest in the educational spectacle.

Brett and I thought the show was okay, but ultimately felt quite anticlimactic when the trebuchet was released, you couldn’t track the load it had projected, and you didn’t see it land. There was a small pyrotechnic explosion, but we wanted to see the real thing! For a piece of equipment that must have taken some money and engineering experience to create, I really would have thought the show would be more entertaining.

That being said, it did give us an excellent opportunity to explain years of history and the use of a trebuchet to Bertie (while Barnaby napped) and I’m sure it would be a great start or endpoint for older children who have learned about this incredible weapon that has been used since the 4th century BC.

Ultimately, if you are pressed for time and are having to choose between shows, this is the one I would probably give a miss next time – the ultimate birds of prey display, war of the roses live, and live puppetry Zog show will bring much greater enjoyment and bang for your buck. 

If you enjoyed the Trebuchet show, you’ll also love the unmissable War of the Roses live show taking place in the bespoke arena. 

Sitting in the grassy areas along the banks of the river Avon, you can also catch the family-favourite falconry show – the Falconer’s Quest.

Zog superfans will love the Zog live show and Zog playland. 

Read more about our trip to Warwick Castle here.