Gardens and ghouls provide an interesting history at Cornet Castle on the English Channel Island of Guernsey, writes Diana Wemyss Castles, both the derelict and the grand, have a particular fascination. The derelict because between the crumbling stone walls you can usually find a blackcurrant bush or an ancient cherry tree that rewards your tourist travails with fruit as organic as you can find, and the dream that you might be eating from the same tree some Medieval knight had plucked his lunch: foraging is, after all, the trendy pursuit of the modern gourmand.story_article_left1We always make a point of finding a castle or two to visit on our travels. Our most recent, "castle" was Castle Cornet on the island of Guernsey, famous for a prisoner who was skilled at needlework and gardening, a 16th-century skeleton found with a gold doubloon in the region where his stomach might have been, and a governor who slept though an explosion that catapulted him in his bed onto the battlements.Castle Cornet also gave us a strong sense of regret that our own Cape Town castle is now landlocked by busy roads, humming freeways and a litter-choked moat. How much more vital it might have been if the waves of Table Bay still lapped at its walls and boats anchored at its gates.Castle Cornet is built on an island about 600m from the main town of St Peter Port on this pretty English Channel Island. It has guarded the island for 800 years and is still so in touch with the sea and boating life that every view from the battlements is filled with either a flotilla of yachts or some mighty cruise ship many storeys high, weighing anchor out at sea.Smaller than Cape Town castle, but very much older, it is now, in spite of a tormented history of sieges and attacks, a friendly, bucolic place with pretty period gardens and five separate museums that deal with different aspects of its history. It gives you an overview of the island and is a good way to start your holiday - save the hikes and cycles for another day.story_article_right2Although Guernsey is most famous for its tomatoes, jumpers, brown cows and sandy beaches, learning about the island's battle to defend itself is interesting, amusing and entertaining.Castles always heave with stories of bravery and horror. Every wall of damp stonework harbours the possibility of finding a ghost or ghoul hovering.The Norman keep at Cornet Castle was destroyed by a huge blast with both funny and tragic consequences. In 1672, the keep was being used to store gunpowder when it was struck by lightning. The governor, Lord Hatton, was blasted, still asleep and in his bed, onto an outer wall. Even then it apparently took him a while to wake up. Tragically, his mother and his wife were both killed in the blast. Since then, the governors of the island have chosen the safer option of living in St Peter Port itself.The layers of history start with its Medieval walls and end with the grim concrete battlements erected during the five-year Nazi occupation of the island between 1940 and 1945.The Nazis took away the castle's 50 cannons and today only replicas remain. One, a 1799, 32-pounder mounted on the only remaining original wooden garrison carriage, is fired at noon, just as our noon gun is fired from Signal Hill. When the cannons were first fired it took five pounds of gunpowder. Today a mere 25g is used - although the modern noon gun is fired electronically. It makes such a noise you jump in spite of yourself.story_article_left3A small medicinal herb garden was planted by the castle's most famous prisoner, Sir John Lambert, he of needlework fame.In 1642 when the English Civil War broke out Guernseymen had to choose sides. Guernsey sided with Parliament while the island's governor chose the king. He fled to Castle Cornet, where he remained under siege for nine years.After the restoration of the monarchy, Sir Lambert, one of Cromwell's top lieutenants, escaped beheading by a hair's breath and was imprisoned at the castle in 1661. He occupied his time with painting, needlework and the cultivation of flowers. He is reputed to have introduced the Guernsey Lily (Nerine sarniensis) to the island. His is one of five period gardens at the Castle.The clandestine marriage of his daughter Mary to the governor's son saw him quickly removed to the island of St Nicholas in Plymouth Sound. He died still a prisoner in 1684.Guernsey might appear as the smallest of dots on the world map, but not only is it a great holiday destination - history, beaches, wonderful hikes and walks - it is a magnet for money. Its off-shore finance industry has generated upwards of £204-billion in investment funds and £157-billion in deposits...