Certainly our reporter's father was far too big for the old armour, when the guide got him to try it.

The castle has a web site at www.ripleycastle.co.uk It's got everything an English castle should have - walls to keep out the Scots, a secret staircase, a secret hiding place or "priest's hole" in the wall, pictures of most of the family, and at least one ghost.

For parents, the landscaped gardens were laid out by "Capability" Brown, the furniture was made by Chippendale (who lived in the village for a year while he was working on it), and the estate village was rebuilt by an eccentric Ingilby as a model of a French village and still looks like it today.

There's history - Oliver Cromwell came to stay one night, to try to kill the head of the family, who'd fought against him at the battle of Marston Moor the previous day. When he couldn't find him (he was probably hiding in the priest hole), Cromwell shot some of the servants who'd also fought in the battle. The bullet holes are still in the gateway walls.

Another Ingilby was burned at the stake during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was a Roman Catholic priest, and was beatified recently by Pope Paul. He may become a full Saint, later.

When James VI of Scotland became King of England, he came to stay at the Castle on his way from Edinburgh to London, but didn't give any money or land to the Ingilbys as they'd hoped.

Later on, supporting the Catholic cause against James VI, the Ingilbys were probably part of the Gunpowder Plot led by Guy Fawkes, to blow up the Houses of Parliament while King James was there. The Plot failed, the head of the Ingilby family was arrested, but managed to get off all charges, perhaps by bribing the jury. Guy Fawkes, of course, was executed.

People in Britain still set off fireworks and light bonfires on 5th November, to remember this attempt to blow up Parliament, and to burn dummies of Guy Fawkes.