Lord Glasgow resorts to car-boot sales to fund Kelburn Castle repairs

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 22:04

A SCOTS aristocrat has been reduced to holding car-boot sales to raise cash to repair his crumbling castle.

Lord Glasgow has been forced to raise an estimated 2 million to improve his home, Kelburn Castle, near Largs, after it was damaged by a fire in February.

Now the earl – who admitted he was 500,000 overdrawn in 2007 – has called for more support from the government for national treasures.

His son, David Boyle, Viscount Kelburn, admitted times were tough at the castle after an electrical fault caused a blaze, which destroyed much of the roof.

The car-boot sales at a pavilion in the grounds will help to raise up to 1,000 a week for the restoration.

Viscount Kelburn said: "It has been a struggle. We are staging car-boot sales in the run-up to Christmas, among a range of fundraising ideas."

He will charge sellers 15 every Sunday for an indoor pitch to sell their household bric-a-brac. Outdoor pitches cost 10, while professional dealers will be charged 25 to sell their wares.

Lord Glasgow has used his seat in the House of Lords to make the case for greater funding for places such as Kelburn Castle and country park, whose grounds are open to the public.

He said: "In this time of recession, with a weaker pound and fewer Britons going abroad for their holidays, this is the ideal time for our government to invest in their tourist industry.

"Tourism is Britain's fourth-largest industry – it is Scotland's second. It employs 1.4 million people full-time and another million or so part-time and contributes 86 billion to the economy.

"This in itself is surely a good enough reason for the government to take tourism seriously."