We’ll start our tour with the historic approach to the castle, crossing the arched stone bridge. Since we’re not in danger of being stormed, you’ll find the drawbridge down making your access quite easy. Just watch out for the horse poop.

The first arch is where the portcullis would have been. Should an enemy make a successful attack before the drawbridge was raised, the heavy iron portcullis would have been dropped. Unfortunately during the Second Wordl War, our portcullis was scrapped for the war effort.

If the enemy found their way past the moat, the drawbridge, and portcullis, they would find themselves in a narrow corridor leading to the courtyard. Here they would be easy prey for the archers firing arrows from the two rooms on either side of the corridor.

The castle structure is a square with a tower at each corner, and a central courtyard. From the courtyard we can access the garages, stables, the indoor swimming pool, and the Grand Entrance that will take us up to the residence on the first floor.

The ground floor originally provided storerooms for the military. Now these rooms have been converted to more peaceful uses.

Over the years several movies have made use of our castle. You may remember seeing it in one of the James Bond movies. We’ve dedicated this room to 007 himself, with one of the actual Aston Martins used in the movie on display. Behind the car is his office where he can monitor the grounds on the security display or watch the large screen TV on the wall to keep up with the latest world events.

If nothing serious is going on at the moment, he can relax with a martini from the liquor cabinet. Remember, shaken, not stirred!

There are times where we need to quickly run into town for supplies, or I just need to get away from the rigors of keeping a castle running. So we have a small garage for the two vehicles we actually use, a Chevy Bolt and a Suzuki SV650.

The castle has a very nice collection of classic British automobiles and motorcycles.

We start off with four very elegant Rolls Royces from the teens and 20s. The rest of the car collection is comprised of Jaguars, including some very rare models like the 1955 D-type and the XJ13. Of course nice examples of more common models such as the E-type and the SS100 are included as well.

Moving into the motorcycle section, we first see a fine collection of Triumphs from their heyday during the sixties and seventies. The last room features two Vincents, and several more obscure brands from the teens. Two of the early bikes include the original wicker basket sidecars.

We have two carriages we use to take tourists around the grounds. You saw the enclosed carriage just leaving as you arrived. Here is the open carriage, that is used on those rare sunny days, and if you’re getting married here, it’s available to make the bride’s arrival extra special.

A recent renovation to the castle, the indoor Moroccan swimming pool provides a place for guests to exercise and socialize when the whether gets a bit English outside. Classic Corbusier recliners line the pool deck, while Moroccan couches surround the hot tub.

The entire room is tiled with Arabesque tile, with the exception of the blue plastered Moorish arches that lead to the two locker rooms.

Our last stop from the courtyard is through the heavy wooden arched door that leads us into the Entrance Hall. Here a double staircase takes us upstairs to the public rooms such as the Grand Hall, Dining Room, and Library.

The Drawing Room sits in the northeast tower, just off of the parlour. This room was used by the ladies to retire to after dinner, to socialize and play cards while the men headed off to the Billiards Room for their cognac and cigars.

The design here is influenced by William Burges’ work at Castle Coch in Wales.

This grand room serves as a ballroom, wedding venue, and conference meeting room. The largest room in the castle, it measures 34 feet by 56 feet, and the peak of the hammerbeam ceiling soars 45 feet above the intricately designed parquet floor.

In the castle’s original configuration, this room also provided access the balcony over the front entrance, where archers could defend the castle from attack using either their arrows, or by pouring hot liquids over the parapet.

During the Gothic Revival in the 1860s, the large window in the front of the castle was installed, shutting off access to the balcony, but now the room is bathed in beautiful soft northern light.

The beautiful tapestries are all original to the room.

The theatre is another recent addition to the castle, located in the northwest tower. Not just a home theatre, Lori wanted a full stage so that the castle could host operas. There’s even a dressing room area behind the stage.

That doesn’t mean you can’t watch movies in here, as there is a retractable movie screen. If it’s silent movie night, the mighty pipe organ provides the soundtrack.

Our art museum takes up the entire west wing of the castle’s first floor. On one side is European and American sculpture, paintings, and pottery, while the other side is dedicated to ancient Egypt.

In honor of “Night at the Museum”, replicas of the stone Easter Island statues are featured as well.

From the Art Gallery you can enter the Photography Gallery that extends all the way up to the top of the southwest tower. Unlike the other three towers, this tower has two extra floors, and is topped with a conical roof with dormers. It’s a lot of stairs to climb to get to the top, but fortunately each level has seating where you can take a break and admire the photography.

On the first level of the Photography Gallery we are currently featuring a look back at some vintage photographs of women from the Victorian and Edwardian period. These photos are displayed on the outside walls. On the inside walls there are photos of models wearing some of the clothes from Lori’s vintage clothing collection.

In the future there are plans to also display some of her collection on mannequins throughout the Photography Gallery when the current exhibits feature her collection, but as of this moment, the logistics of presenting her collection are still being worked out.

Because the upper rooms in the Gallery Tower can only be reached from the first floor, we’re going to tour all the other levels of the tower first and then we’ll return to the first floor to continue our tour of the other public rooms.

On the second level of the Photography Gallery, there are again two displays. On the outside wall the theme is “Ghosts, Pirates, and Ghostly Pirates” while on the inside wall the theme is “Cowgirls”.

On the third floor the theme is “Feminine Landscapes” with all of the photos featuring women surrounded by the beauty of mother nature. Many of the photos also feature Lori’s vintage clothing collection.

On the fourth floor of the Gallery Tower, we’re now inside the conical roof. Due to the sloping walls there’s less room to display photographs, and we didn’t want the mar the nice wood paneling by hanging picture. The inside wall displays “The Art of Getting Dressed” that features several series of photos showing all the layers of clothing that Victorian women had to wear.

We’ve finally made it to the top of the Gallery Tower, 90 feet above the surface of the moat. This room provides a great view of the castle and the surrounding countryside. You can see some of our hot air balloons that provide our guests with a bird’s-eye view of the castle. Be sure to check that out when our tour is over. Have you caught your breath yet? Good, then let’s head back down to the first floor.

This is where the gentlemen would hang out after dinner and play billiards or cards while drinking and smoking away from the ladies. Several paintings and even one tapestry that were rather risqué for the time hang on the walls. With the exception of the two couches the room is pretty original to the 1860 Victorian renovation.

The Victorian library was renovated when the castle was opened up to visitors. The bookcases were rearranged so that there are two functional libraries. A public library opens to the hallway and is available to guests staying overnight. It contains both modern books and some historical books of interest from the original library. Two pocket doors open up to the private library which contains the valuable books from the original library as well as all the historical records and documents of the castle.

Lori really has a thing for old kitchens. As long as she has a big rack of copper pans she can do without the dishwasher, cupboards, and counter space. So the castle kitchen has been spared a renovation. In addition to the cooking area, there is a place for the servants to gather and eat their meals.

The pantry provides a place to hide the refrigerator, as well as stock the necessary food items. It also serves as a passageway from the kitchen to the dining room. The door on the left in the photo above goes to the dining room, but you won’t see it in the dining room unless you look very closely as it is hidden in the paneling.

The Dining Room sits in the southeast tower, and it was really tempting to put a round table in this room since the room has a “Knight” theme.

This room received a major Gothic treatment during the 1860s renovation, as evidenced by the paneling and dining table and chairs.

That completes the public tour of the castle, but since you’ve been such an interesting guest, we’ll show you the private rooms as well. To get to them we need to head back to the parlour and then take the staircase from there.

Heading up the staircase in the parlour there is a landing and then the staircase splits to the left and right, heading to hallways that serve different parts of the house.

The second floor rooms are in the attic space of the steeply pitched roof, but plenty of dormers provide light and extra headroom.

Since the high ceiling of the Great Hall makes it impossible to complete a full circuit of the house as is possible on the first floor, we’ll check out the rooms on the left side of the staircase, and then return so we can check out the rooms on the right side.

The second room with a grand piano, this one is dedicated to performances rather than casual play.

From the previous Music Room we can move back into the northeast tower to the Rock and Roll Room. Plenty of room to dance on that beautiful hardwood floor.

The stairway on the stage does not go to heaven. Just the opposite. On the level above, the tower contains the original set of jail cells where enemies or miscreants were held. Rumors hold that the ghostly image of a princess who never got rescued can still be seen in the windows of that tower from time to time.

Retracing our steps back to the staircase and then heading up the the right side, we come to the first of our three guest suites.The large brick fireplace keeps the room warm while you sleep in the comfortable canopied four poster bed. The seating area by the dormer provides an excellent view of hte moat below.

The spacious bathroom has a large double vanity and a clawfoot tub to soak in. A separate walk in closet makes this room ideal for guests on extended stays.

The Master Bedroom is entered through a short hallway and takes up the entire southeast tower on this level. Gothic furniture including a massive canopied bed decorate this burgundy and gold room. A boxed beam ceiling above and an intricate parquet floor were added during the 1860 renovation. Portraits original to the castle line the walls.

This room is the only room in the castle to have a balcony. It’s small, but it allows you to act out any Romeo and Juliet fantasies you may have. Or you can call down to your knight in shining armor to be rescued from the tower.

The bathroom was last remodeled just after the First World War and includes a cage shower as well as a clawfoot tub.

When we decided to start renting out rooms, we thought this room needed some refreshing. The dormer window reminded us of the windows in a captain’s galley on a pirate ship, so the pirate theme was born.

A pile of treasure is yours for the taking, and the pirate theme continues in the sitting room and even the bathroom, with a jolly roger rug on the floor.

This room uses the Bradbury Glasgow Rose room set, which we used in the parlor of our San Jose house. The dormer provides a nice seating area that has a view of the back of the castle where there is a small garden.

The bathroom features a slipper tub right in front of the fireplace, and a cage shower.

The photography in both rooms is from two trips with Ayrica to my favorite pond.

This is one of two bathrooms that the four guest rooms share.

While this room has a Chinese theme, it is dedicated to the memory of Meg, a feral cat we adopted in San Jose and two of her sons that stayed with us, Galen who you can see sticking his tongue out, and Ricky who is just out of view on the wall by the door. A Chinese bed, blue lacquered cabinet, and seating for tea furnish the room, while fragile blue and white pottery make the room unsuitable for having actual cats in the room.

I think this room started out as a Scottish theme, but it became known simply as the Green Room. Tartan fabric decorates the bed and table.

The reproductions of Van Gogh’s paintings give this room it’s theme. Sunflowers in the wallpaper, and fresh sunflowers on the table bring a little sunshine into the room even when it’s dark and grey outside.

This room is decorated with a French flavor, both in the furniture and the wallcovering. The terra cotta and burgundy color scheme goes well with the sepia toned vintage fashion prints hanging on the walls.

Not meant to be one of the guest rooms, this room is for use if we have relatives staying with us that have kids. Bright primary colors help to stimulate their creativity. With a bunk bed it can sleep two.

At the end of the hall and taking up the 2nd and 3rd floors of the northwest tower is the servants quarters. Pictured is the dorm for the female servants, upstairs on the 3rd floor of the tower is a similar room for the male servants.

The last room we’ll visit is a small room tucked in at the end of the hall that serves as the housekeeper’s bedroom and office.