I looove castles :) One of my fondest memories as a very young "lad" growing up in England in the late eighties--climbing around in old "abandoned" castles/ stone structures, often-times just out in the middle of nowhere type wooded locations where we would walk around and play.
One popular activity was to take sleds or pieces of cardboard and slide down the dried-up moats which surrounded the castles. This was fun. Kind of weird, and creepy now that I think back on it--those "moats" were usually pretty freakin gross--often just a stagnant pool of the castle's refuse; yelch!