With the profusion of restored castles throughout the UK, there has never been a better time to rent a castle for a family celebration or corporate event. After years of post war struggle for the owners throughout the years of crippling taxation and economic decline, the eighties saw a renaissance for Britain’s fine old homes (or certainly those that had survived). Sadly many had not and during the sixties Scottish ancestral homes were being pulled down at a rate of one a week. Happily a new era emerged where grants and other methods of financial support were made available and the surviving homes started to recover.
The owners faced huge challenges to raise the necessary funds and to restore their homes but many have bounced back and are now looking better than ever. To help pay for their continued upkeep, many homes and castles are now available for private rental on a weekly or long weekend basis. This offers guests the chance to live like lord, without the actual responsibility of owning a 12 bedroom pile with acres of gardens, thousands of acres and masses of estate buildings to maintain. For a fee of around £5000 a night a group of say 16 guests can take exclusive use of one of these fabulous homes and be wined & dined by the owner and their staff.
This combined with lots of activities on the estate and in the surrounding area makes for a really fun weekend and a fun alternative to staying in yet another hotel. Many of the ancestral homes are stuffed with precious artwork and antique furniture, guests eat off lovely china and really get to experience another way of life. The homes have huge character and offer a glimpse into a bygone era. They were built for entertaining and they effortlessly accommodate large numbers of guests. They are the perfect venue for an intimate gathering of family and old friends or a group of business colleagues who need to escape the pressures of the office and chat in a more sedate environment.
The trick is to find the castle that suits your needs and that offers the style of accommodation that will appeal to your guests. All the properties are unique and offer a very different feel and style of architecture. The latter ranges from Elizabethan to modern day architecture but most available are either Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian. Many guests prefer a distinct style and it is worth taking a lot of trouble over which home you select. Whatever their style, most now offer a high standard of accommodation with bedrooms either en-suite or with adjacent bathrooms and plenty of hot water available! Internet access, sat TV and other modern conveniences are generally available and the homes combine old world charm with modern day comfort.
Externally the castles offer guests a myriad of features from walled and woodland gardens to modern day facilities like swimming pools, tennis courts and other fun games like badminton, croquet and archery. There is usually a huge estate attached to the Castle of sometimes many thousands of acres which guests are welcome to explore. Country pursuits like fishing and shooting can often be arranged on the estate or sometimes guests opt for quad biking or off road driving utilising the property’s extensive tracks and remote areas. It’s all about enjoying the simple things in life and relaxing in wonderful surroundings. The owners of these beautiful homes selected the most glorious spots and built homes that could enjoy the fine views on offer and the immediate surroundings were moulded to suit their taste in terms of fantastic landscape gardening, lakes and other ornamentation. Rent a castle and you go back in time to a more civilised world!
Andrew Loyd is a director of Loyd & Townsend-Rose Ltd, who will help you to rent a castle in Scotland for vacations, corporate events, filming and sporting activities.
|
|
