Turret Attractions
In the United Kingdom, Even the Common Traveler Can Stay in a Castle -- Without Paying a Royal Sum
Sunday, January 29, 2006; Page P04
As night settled over the Welsh mountains, I heard goats bleating. But where were they? Standing in the courtyard, I saw only Craig-y-Nos Castle towering over me, and the sound seemed to emanate from within its gray stone facade. Then I saw curtains flutter in the attic. A ghost?
More Addams Family manse than stately manor, Craig-y-Nos -- in south Wales, about 20 miles north of Swansea -- wasn't the fairy-tale castle I'd imagined. I'd wanted to dream where knights and maidens had slept. I'd wanted a four-poster bed, chocolates on my pillow, maybe even romance.
  Ghosts reportedly haunt Craig-y-Nos Castle in Wales, but guests aren't too spooked to stay over. (By Sue Kovach Shuman -- The Washington Post) |
Simply put, I wanted to escape my suburban split-foyer for the splendor of a U.K. castle. But at what cost? My husband, Gene, and I decided to find out last June, which is peak season for visitors and when rates are highest. We scaled down expectations, focusing on places around $100 per night.
Believe it or not, they exist.
While most may associate castles with romance and royalty, they weren't built for comfort. "Castles were properly fortified structures," said historian Lise Hull, who maintains the Web site Castles-of-britain.com. And, she said, real castles were built from the 11th century into the 16th century -- anything after that "can be considered mock castles . . . really only fine homes." Hull said at least 2,364 medieval castles remain. Trevor Johnson of Historic UK magazine noted that many structures we now call castles were built in the mid- to late- 1880s by "Victorian men with more money than sense."
Some serve as public museums, while others make money from group events such as weddings. At least 90 in Britain are hotels or rent rooms. A few cash-strapped private owners even welcome guests into their homes.
To me, size and luxury meant less than location. Using an atlas, I mapped a 1,600-mile road trip from London west to Wales, then north to the Scottish Highlands. Along our route, we'd stop at three very different castles: Gothic Craig-y-Nos in Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales; medieval Langley, near Hexham, England; and austere Carbisdale, a Scottish Highlands hostel. Two were haunted. At one, I was treated like a queen; at another, a dorm bed had to suffice.
Each had its charms, but I'll take the royal treatment over poltergeists any day.
Craig-y-Nos Castle, Wales
We arrived at dusk at Craig-y-Nos, a monolith about 190 miles west of London. Scaffolding on one turret cast spooky shadows, while the castle's swan fountain was silent. Its name means "rock of the night," and on this night, the place looked haunted. The growling dog didn't help.
Castle-keeper Martin Gover -- who bought the estate in 2000 for a "complete change from city life in London" -- says he's poured more than $1.8 million into renovating Craig-y-Nos, built in 1843. He's not done: Only 31 of 50 rooms and two dorms are rehabbed.
"TV reception, that is some time off yet," Gover said. Next month, a gym and a spa will open.
We stayed in a Nurses' Block shared-bath room, which was $100 for two with breakfast. Nurses bunked there during the castle's 1921 incarnation as a hospital for tuberculosis patients, many of them children. Later it treated geriatric and chronically ill people. Many died. It's said their ghosts linger.
