castle

North Carolina Castle, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates

What else would you find on castle ridge road but a castle? This castle is located in Tuckasgee, North Carolina is a four-bedroom palace tucked in to the Smoky Mountains. The home has a great hall, chef's kitchen with butler's pantry, wine cellar, art studio, pub/movie room, office and a hidden, secret room. The four bedrooms are each suites with fireplaces, separate sitting areas, large bathrooms. and balconies. The home is on eight acres which includes English-style gardens and multiple outbuildings. Vintage style details include the turret tower, spiral staircase, handpainted murals, stained glass, vintage pine floors and a 400-year-old Normandy mantel. There is also an additional 43 acres with a horse barn and tack room available. One man's castle might be another man's white elephant but it's right for a knight. This home is listed at $4 million.

Gallery: North Carolina Castle

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Tags: castle, estate of the day, luxury real estate, north carolina, NorthCarolina

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Glenskirlie, Scotland's Newest Castle

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

I find it oddly comforting to think that castles are still being built. The Glenskirlie Castle in Scotland is the first castle to be built in the country in this new century. The hotel offers 15 individually named rooms all named after roses. The castle is adjacent to the Glenskirlie House Restaurant which has been in business 25 years. The whole set up is a natural for weddings and the castle has honeymoon suites with four-poster beds and turreted bathrooms. The castle also has its own more casual bar and grill restaurant.

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Tags: castle, castle hotel, glenskirlie, hotel, scotland, travel, vacation

Dracula's Castle for Sale (Bats Included!)

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Some 450,000 people pass through Dracula's castle in Transylvania each year, and now people not only have the chance to see it but also to own it. Prince Vlad the Impaler, the violent warlord who inspired Bram Stoker's "Dracula" character, is rumored to have stayed one night in his family's castle, officially called Bran Castle, back in the 1400s. It's been running as a museum per an agreement with the Romanian government that expires in 2009. The castle went up for sale on Monday, and although it's expected to go for upwards of $135 million it won't be sold to just anybody, as only buyers who "will treat the property and its history with appropriate respect" will be considered. And those who don't mind seeing bats flying around the ramparts at twilight, of course.

Interested? I think I'll pass.

Via Book of Joe

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Tags: bran, bran castle, BranCastle, castle, dracula, impaler, prince, prince vlad the impaler, PrinceVladTheImpaler, romania, transylvania, vlad, vlad the impaler, VladTheImpaler

Searles Castle Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Here's a hot real estate opportunity, I don't see a castle come to market every day. Searles Castle in Great Barrington, Massachusetts has 40 rooms and seven turrets. The home, which has most recently served as a private school is now up for sale for $15 million. No pictures on the listing yet but you can see one interior shot here.

Searles Castle is one of two in the New England region (the other is in New Hampshire) that bear the name of Edward Searles. Mary Hopkins, the widow of railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins commissioned the castle which was built in 1888. She hired interior decorator Edward Searles for the project, and they married a year before it was finished (she was 22 years older than he). After she died he stayed in the castle for a time and then after his death it has been a private private school, conference center among other businesses and was most recently the John Dewey Academy.

The castle has 36 fireplaces, a dungeon, and more than 50 rooms for a total of around 60,000 square feet. It could be turned into a resort or a spa or perhaps a private residence once again.

[via CNN]
[Thanks, Timothy for this great find]

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Tags: castle, great barrington, john dewey academy, mary hopkins, massachusetts, real estate, RealEstate, searles castle, SearlesCastle

Live in a Castle Like Royalty, with Royalty

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

So what if you didn't just go visit a castle somewhere, or even just stayed in a castle-turned-hotel somewhere, but actually stayed in a castle with the royalty who owned it? Now that would be an experience. It's basically a different spin on the "bed and breakfast" idea, where you get to stay in a real castle with servants and butlers, walk in the gardens, eat in the main hall, admire the ancient portraits of royals gone before, and then on top you get to have tea and visit with the lord, knight, or princess that happens to live there too.

The only part that bothers me about all this is the idea that most of these people are opening their homes not because they want to share their history, or because they enjoy mingling with "commoners," (although maybe they do) but mostly because it just costs so much to keep those massive castles running. Maybe that makes the experience that much more genuine though -- amidst the luxury and royal treatment an underlying air of haughtiness from the nobles would definitely fit in with history!

(Ahem, I'm sure they're all very nice, really).

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Tags: bed and breakfast, BedAndBreakfast, castle, castles, hotel, palace, royalty, travel

Gyrn Castle, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

This impressive home is Gyrn Castle in Wales. The castle comes with 367 acres of land. The property was bought in 1856 by Edward Bates, a ship-owner and politician. Recently Sir Edward's descendant, Sir Geoffrey Bates, the fifth baronet, passed away, leading to the sale of not only this impressive piece of land but to a two-day estate sale on July 17 and 18 which will be run by Christies. The sale will be at the castle and includes furniture, paintings, armor, and even a stuffed rhinoceros head. The home is listed at £3.5 million. Interior peeks at this massive estate after the jump.

[via IC Wales]

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Tags: castle, gyrn castle, GyrnCastle, wales

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Dracula's Castle Returned to Owner

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

One of Romania's most popular tourist attractions, Dracula Castle, is being returned to its rightful owner, Dominic van Hapsburg, a New York Architect and descendant of the Hapsburg family line. The castle is actually named Bran Castle, and was never owned by Vlad the Impaler, though the prince who inspired the story of Dracula is though to have stayed there. The castle's remote, cliff-top location and striking Gothic architecture have made it a fixture of Dracula movies. The property is being returned under new legislation that reverses the seizures made by the former communist regime. The castle was originally taken in 1948 and was left to fall into disrepair until a restoration began in the 1980s. Part of the agreement for handing over the castle is that the new owner will not make any changes to it for at least three years. The hand-over ceremony will take place on Friday. The castle is worth approximately $25 million.

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Tags: bran castle, BranCastle, castle, communist, dracula, estate, history, myth, owner, romania

The New American Castle

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

We'd all like to live in a castle but race car driver Kim Baker and his wife Patricia have made their dream reality. They have used their project, the New American Castle, as a luxury show home. Their home, located in the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts is an 11,000 square-foot mansion that Patricia, who owns her marketing firm, has turned into a showcase for home products. Her savvy use of PR drastically reduced the cost of building their dream home. Details of the castle include a labyrinth, wine cellar, gym, stone griffins and gargoyles and plenty of stonework and stained glass. The project is ongoing (this picture is from last summer) and the castle website has all sorts of progress photos that detail every step of this ambitious project.

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Tags: american castle, berkshires, castle, luxury show home, new american castle

St. Patrick's Day at Ashford Castle

by Matthew Collins (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

In honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday, how about a stay at one of Ireland's premier castle hotels, Ashford Castle. Situated in near Cong, in County Mayo, Ashford Castle is a wonderful place to experience the luxuries of country living in a structure that parts of which were begun in 1228. Some enhancements have been made since the dark ages, notably bathrooms and electricity. The hotel is on the shores of Lough Corrib, Ireland's second largest lake and features elegant grounds perfect for an afternoon stroll. As a former guest of the hotel, I can attest to the warmest service and delicious dining that the castle offers. By the way, if you can't make it to the castle soon, rent "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne. It was filmed in the village of Cong and on the castle grounds in 1951. If you can, arrive by helicopter to get a bird's eye view of the castle and grounds.

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Tags: ashford castle, AshfordCastle, castle, ireland

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