I need to stay overnight in a Castle HELP!

[DarkNewt]

Hi All,

one of the challenges I have been given on my tour is to stay overnight in a Castle of more accurately the challenge was "BLAG A FREE NIGHT IN A CASTLE". I had one offer but they have now had to withdraw due to a wedding, if anyone knows of a castle that would be willing to put me up for free I would be grateful, I am happy to sleep in the Dungeons!

Additionally if anyone can put me up for a night on my trip round the coast of the UK & Ireland I would be grateful, I am camping most of the way but the occasional wash and a bed would probably stop the locals chasing me down. You can see my route on my blog: thedarknewt.blogspot.co.uk

Many thanks All!

[whoof]

You could look for a ruined castle turn up late/leave early and wild camp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_castles_in_England

[DarkNewt]

You could look for a ruined castle turn up late/leave early and wild camp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_castles_in_England

Hi,

I have that down as an emergency measure if I don't manage to BLAG a night in an occupied one (other than wildlife).

[NUKe]

Spite castel or carbisdale castle in scotland used to belong to SYHA, it looks like from Wikipedia it is now sold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbisdale_Castle

might be option if it is now independent

[F70100]

You can book online at this one:

http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/CASMOT/castleford-xscape,-m62-j32

[thirdcrank]

There's no castle in Castleford and AFAIK, there never has been although the Romans are thought to have had a fort there.

Nearby Pontefract does have a proper castle, or the remains of one. |The site of all sorts of skulduggery through the ages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontefract_Castle

[beardy]

I am not sure about how you could "blag it" but here is a castle for people to stay at.

http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/st-briavels

[DarkNewt]

Hi,

I think I am just going to go round my route map looking for likely castles and ring them up with "im going on a ride round uk & irish coast with several challenges one of them is to get a free night in a castle, can you help". I was just hoping that someone on the forum may have a contact or live in a castle lol!

thanks all!

[iviehoff]

One castle you can still stay in for a modest sum of money is St Briavels, near Monmouth, which is operated as a Youth Hostel by the YHA. It's very popular, so book ahead.

It's really difficult finding someone who can invite you to stay in their own castle these days. It has been increasingly difficult for the aristocracy to continue living in their castles, and a great many have been given to the nation, or are opened up for tourism while keeping only a small part occupied by the family. A large number have sadly been knocked down. A good friend of mine is a baron's nephew, and the baron used to live in one of those fairly numerous great country houses that the Top 10,000 used to aspire to in the 18th and 19th centuries. But it had to be sold off because he couldn't afford to live there any more. Well strictly speaking it's just a long lease, but the family does not have the wealth for that kind of thing any more, so I can't imagine they'll be taking it back. At least it is still standing, and my friend can take me past it and point at it saying "my granddad lived there". As a student I was acquainted, very slightly, with a man who is now an earl. His family used to live in a truly enormous castle in Scotland, and indeed probably still was living there when he was a young child. But it became unmanageable and was demolished in 1969, and a really very modest modern house was built to replace it. Probably wasn't even feasible as a tourist attraction in the 1960s. At least 2000 such buildings have had a similar fate over the last 100 years or so, including some truly magnificent examples such as Beaudesert http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaudesert_(house) - just wasn't the stately home tourist demand or public money in the 1940s to keep them going.

I did once become slightly acquainted with someone whose family owned a really grand stately home of chateau type, one that numerous tourists visit come to, and weddings are done in the great rooms, and everything else to make enough money to be able to continue living there. 150 years ago her husband's family were just about the wealthiest people in the country and owned several castles, some of which they spent stupidly enormous sums of money on filling with architectural and artistic treasures. But 19th century sources of wealth are not modern sources of wealth, and in the 1950s they were mostly given to the nation; they are probably lucky to have been able to keep one great house and live in just part of it. But I offended her rather terribly due to my own crass stupidity, and sucking up to aristocrats just doesn't come natural to me anyway. In fact, it turned out that even she did not herself remain in residence of that grand house for much longer due to dynastic factors and family disagreements.

But I have succeeded in staying the night for free in a minor stately home a couple of times, hardly a castle, but it's the closest I'll probably ever come to doing what you want to do. A good friend had become a business manager there, and could put me up in her room when the house wasn't open to visitors. But before long even she was moved out to a local cottage. I've also had a number of fairly cheap nights in castles which were paid for, though that becomes harder too. I stayed in Carbisdale Castle when it was still a youth hostel. I stayed in a B&B in Ireland that was half castle semi-detached to a farmhouse, but it's now a moderately posh hotel. Also I stayed in the building that is now the Loch Awe Hotel, a former baronial style residence in Scotland, in days when it was a down-market guesthouse.

[DarkNewt]

I think I will just rock up on my bike and say Cousin Emily or 5th Cousin Timothy told me to stay over... by the time they have finished going through the list of relatives I should be long gone

[simonhill]

Isn't every Englishman's home his castle!