Children's earliest memories of castles are more than twice as likely to have come from fantasy, film and fiction instead of a real-life visit, a new English Heritage survey reveals.

The survey questioned 2000 children and adults and showed that while most adults' first castle sightings are likely to have been in real life, almost two thirds of children remember their first memories coming from fictitious castles featured in films like Harry Potter, Cinderella and Frozen.

Meanwhile, although almost two thirds of children say they enjoy visiting castles, less than 40% have visited in the past year and 12% have never been to one.

But English Heritage is determined to reverse this trend.

With 66 castles across the country and a packed programme of events, English Heritage is launching the #LoveCastles campaign to encourage families to make real memories this summer.

Find out more about #LoveCastles

English Heritage loves castles

English Heritage cares for more castles than any other organisation in the UK. Among those are Dover, Kenilworth and Tintagel castles.

English Heritage is offering a bumper #LoveCastles season this summer with events ranging from jousting knights in shining armour to sandcastle building workshops.

And for those who can't leave the screen at home, families are encouraged to create new memories with English Heritage's on-site Minecraft workshops.

Kate Mavor, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said:

'Whilst most of us can remember our first trip to a castle - whether on a day out with the family or a school trip - today's children are increasingly likely to catch their first glimpse of a castle on a screen rather than in real life.

'This summer, English Heritage is calling on families up and down the country to reverse this trend, and take a day out to a real life castle, where kids can run around in the sunshine, watch gallant knights jousting, build a sandcastle or recreate a castle in a special Minecraft workshop.'

For more information about #LoveCastles visit our #LoveCastles page.

Share your favourite castles with @EnglishHeritage on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.