Castell Coch, on the outskirts of Cardiff, is the ultimate fairytale castle. Its conical towers and needle-sharp turrets peek out from a wooded slope, presenting a vision more in tune with the Bavarian countryside, the pages of Sleeping Beauty, or even the studios of Walt Disney than a Welsh hillside. It is, of course, a romantic fantasy, a late 19th-century creation inspired by the spirit of the Victorian Age. It was conceived by architect William Burges for his patron, the marquis of Bute, as a companion piece to the marquis's main home in Cardiff Castle. Lord Bute who owned Cardiff's booming docklands and was reputedly the wealthiest man in world gave the 'eccentric genius' Billy Burges free rein to create a Victorian dream of the Middle Ages.