Historian Dan Snow back at Abergele's Gwrych Castle filming for upcoming programme due to air same month as I'm a Celeb 2020

The presenter, who is the great-great grandson of David Lloyd George -the British prime minister at the end of the First World War - enjoyed a tour at the Abergele I’m a Celebrity 2020 location and met and spoke with volunteers.

Ty Crwn

Snow was shown the Countess’ Writing Room in the castle gardens and Ty Crwn, the estate’s former sea bathing house which was last used by the countess of Dundonald for sea bathing.

Dr Mark Barker (near door) and Dan Snow

Dr Mark Baker, chair of the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust who took Snow around the 200-year-old castle site and its gardens, said: “We arranged the visit about a week ago. Everything always happens last minute! He was here filming for a programme for History Hit.

“We spoke quite a bit about the history of the castle and went into an area that ITV are not using for I’m a Celeb, the Countess’ Writing Room.

“It opens the castle up to another audience.

Writing room at Gwrych Castle

“He spent half a day here and had a lot of time for the volunteers. He is really down to earth, relaxed and has a genuine interest.

“He has got that very personal connection as well.”

Snow previously visited the castle and interviewed Dr Baker for a One Show segment in 2018.

Dan Snow at the site

“He has got that Welsh link. He has got his Nain He grew up in North West Wales and that is where he spent many of his holidays," Dr Baker added.

The programme is likely to be aired in November, the same month I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! will be broadcast from the castle site.

After weeks of speculation, ITV confirmed in August that Gwrych Castle will play host to the 20th series of the popular reality show.

Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV said: “The first aim was to get to Australia but when it became clear we weren’t going to make it, we were scouring the country for suitable locations.

“We found an extraordinary place, a beautiful Walt Disney castle, crumbling, tough and we just thought this looks like the place.

The fairytale Welsh castle is undergoing a huge restoration project.

The chance to host the hit show means works, in particularly emergency works which the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust has been carrying out since it purchased the site in 2018, can be fast-tracked.

The purchase was able to go ahead after National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) stepped in with a grant of £600,000.

Dr Baker, an architectural historian who attended Rydal Penrhos, has been under the spell of the castle for decades; the campaigner founded the trust aged 11.

Asked in 2018 by Snow 'how did you start saving this building as an 11-year-old kid?', Dr Baker responded: "I remember writing a letter to then Prime Minster Tony Blair and then the Prince of Wales and to my surprise I got replies back.

"I went on to meet the prince and he was a great support and he put me in contact with various charities and various other people who gave that support."

Ty Crwn has been restored to its former glory and is available to let.

[All pictures: Mark Baker/Gwrych Castle)