Visitors to a British castle in the West Midlands can go back in time to relive one of history’s great sporting spectacles as rival knights compete in the ultimate test of strength and skill at Kenilworth Castle’s Knights’ Tournament.

Set to take place Aug. 26-28, the colourful event enables visitors to immerse themselves in the medieval encampment and meet characters from the past to hear all about weapon repairs, cooking and day-to-day life.

And of course, swords will clash, with a winner decided in the Grand Melee finale, though it is noted that the event is suitable for children.

Managed by English Heritage, 900-year-old Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Gardens offers plenty of experiences every day for visitors. Among them:

• Views from Elizabeth I’s private rooms can be seen for the first time 350 years. Visitors can explore the full height of the tower built by Leicester to court Elizabeth I and stand at floor level in the queen’s private rooms to soak up the spectacular vistas.

• See the queen’s private staircase, and the long gallery where she could have private time with her most intimate friends. In 1575 these rooms were luxurious, elegant, and flooded with light from enormous glass windows.

• Interactive family-friendly displays bringing Kenilworth’s past to life and children can get hands-on with history as they try on period costumes and touch the mighty trebuchet balls that were hurled at Kenilworth Castle 800 years ago and have remained ever since.

• Stroll the Elizabethan Gardens, packed with colour and fragrance and recreated to be just how they were presented to Queen Elizabeth I around 400 years ago.

• The ‘Speed and Power: John Siddeley, Pioneer of the Motor Age’ exhibition celebrates motoring and aviation pioneer, Sir John Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth, a British motoring pioneer who bought the castle in 1937. The exhibition invites visitors to discover Armstrong Siddeley’s glamorous motor cars and aeroplanes and uncover the hidden story of how the castle gatehouse became the company’s drawing room after the factory was bombed in the Coventry Blitz.

Kenilworth Castle is located less than an hour’s drive from both Birmingham and Coventry, or about 2.5 hours from London.