Parking charges apply to non-members. Parking free for members. Car park is 300 metres from the entrance of the castle. Room for 30 cars on gravel. If the castle car park is full visitors can park in the following nearby car parks:

Market Hill Pay and Display car park, Market Hill, Framlingham, IP13 9AN

Fore Street Pay and Display car park, Fore Street Framlingham, IP13 9DY

The Elms Pay and Display car park, New Road,  Framlingham, IP13 9EH

Please note there is no coach parking available on site and the car park cannot accommodate large vehicles.

Our castle café serves a range of seasonal hot and cold meals, light bites, and drinks. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free options are available – please speak to a member of staff in the café. Children’s meals, lunch boxes and high chairs are also available. The café is open 10am-4.30pm – it closes 30 minutes before the site closes. Dogs on leads are welcome in the café.

You are welcome to bring a picnic to enjoy in the grounds. There are picnic benches outside the workhouse.

Range of English Heritage gifts including selection of medieval themed souvenirs.

Toilets available on site, and an accessible toilet is located 300m from the site entrance, along a tarmac surface.

Dogs on leads permitted in the grounds and the castle, except the cafe counter. Assistance dogs welcome throughout site.

Discover the stories of the castle in the exhibition on the reinstated mezzanine level in the Workhouse. Get to know the castle's varied owners in the exhibition walkthrough, former residents included the famous Howard family and Mary Tudor who was proclaimed Queen of England at the castle in 1553. A game inspired by Duchess Margaret Brotherton challenges you to create plates of food and place them next to the class that would have eaten them in the 'Who Eats What?' game, or challenge the monarch by playing 'Spin the King' to see their fate. Try on everything from a Norman helmet to workhouse cap in the Hats Through the Ages dressing up section.

The exhibition building was previously known as the poorhouse, but research has revealed that the Red House of 1664 and the adjacent stone building of 1729 were actually built as workhouses, places where the poorest members of the community carried out useful work in return for financial support, and later accommodation. Institutions like the Framlingham workhouse later gave way to the notoriously harsh workhouses of the Victorian age.

Visitors can explore the Mere, the castle’s outer courts and the wall-walk with its spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. Lots of space for children to run and play: kites allowed.

Baby Changing Facilities

Bottle / Food Warming

Yes on request - please ask café staff for hot water. There is a bottle warmer and microwave that visitors are able to use in the café.

Children's Audio Tour

High Chairs

High chairs are available.

Push Chairs Allowed

Push chairs are allowed in the café and gift shop on ground floor. Unfortunately, due to the historic nature of the castle, visitors are unable to take them up to the first floor or wall walk. We do have an area where visitors can leave their push chairs while visiting these areas.

Family Learning

A variety of garden games are avaliable. A family trail around the site taking in different eras of the castle is available at an added cost from the admissions point.

Height hazard on the wall walk.

English Heritage welcomes amateur photographers to our sites and we hope you will share your pictures of your visit with us on social media.

If you are looking to use one of our sites for commercial, corporate or professional photography or as a filming location, please contact our filming team as soon as possible to check availability and acquire the relevant permissions and paperwork.

Due to the delicate nature of our sites, English Heritage does not permit drone flying from or over sites in our care, except by contractors or partners undertaking flights for a specific purpose, who satisfy stringent CAA criteria, have the correct insurances and permissions, and are operating under controlled conditions.