For travellers based in the UK the battlegrounds and castles of Europe are practically on their doorstep.  With the continent so close the wars fought in Europe were wars of survival – defeat could have led to the invasion of the British Isles.

For many people European wars mean the First and Second World War, however long before these conflicts British soldiers were on the continent in The Hundred Years War,  The War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars – all of these battlegrounds are a few hours away from London and the South Coast.