Castle of Park: Take a look inside this fairy tale castle in Aberdeenshire for sale

Castle of Park Historic Aberdeenshire home has been reimagined to offer a versatile take on a 750-year-old A-listed tower house.

A fairy tale castle that’s ideal for everyday living.

Castles don’t have a reputation as being the most versatile of properties, but Castle of Park in Cornhill, Aberdeenshire, bucks the trend.

Rebecca Campbell-Wilson and her husband Neil started their search for a tower house in Scotland in 2005. They were living in Hove, but Neil had family ties to Cromarty and a dream to own a castle. “We had been looking for two years but everything got snapped up so quickly and usually at double the asking price,” Becky recalls.

"Castle of Park came through on an estate agent’s flyer and as Neil was in Scotland at a show, I told him to go and have a look. It was further north than we wanted but I’m an accountant so I could work practically anywhere and, as an art dealer, Neil was used to travelling across the country to go to auctions. Neil arranged to view, put in an offer immediately and it was accepted without me even seeing it!”

The A-listed castle dates back to 1242 and was later rebuilt in the early 1500s.

Listing Robert the Bruce as one its reputed occupants, the castle has been lived in throughout its life and as result has had many reincarnations. Laterly being used as a guest house, when Neil viewed it was incredibly dark and dingy

due to the regulation fire doors. The décor and furnishings weren’t to Becky and Neil’s taste either.

“The furnishings weren’t in keeping with the period, they were quite modern, and it wasn’t how we would decorate it at all, but we could see the potential. Also, as our Regency town

house in Hove wasn’t that much smaller, we already had quite a lot of furniture and bits and pieces to go in.”

As serial movers and renovators, the couple also had plenty of inspiration to draw on for their new project.

“Neil had a scrapbook in which he used to put cuttings and pictures which he saw in Country Life, Homes & Gardens and Scotland on Sunday too. He kept them for whenever we moved which was around every five years. We’d do up a house and then move to the next one. However, this

castle was supposed to be our forever house, so we planned to take a bit longer over the renovations.”

One thing that couldn’t wait however, was the redecoration of the drawing room. “It had formerly been a bedroom and the walls were covered in Stuart tartan wallpaper. Neil said he couldn’t sit in that room over Christmas and watch TV with that wallpaper, so our first task

was to redecorate with a nice Farrow & Ball, Cooking Apple Green.”

As soon as Christmas was over, work started in earnest and Neil brought in artist Jenny Merredew, a specialist in medieval castle ceilings to paint the Great Hall. “Neil had seen an article in Country Life about her work years ago.

Knowing that one day he would live in a castle and he would need a ceiling, he had kept the article. It was a massive undertaking as we had to remove the false ceiling and then relocate the electrics that were hidden underneath it so we could get back to the original beams. The designs

Jenny used have been taken from a number of castles; the proverbs, knights and musicians were from Crathes Castle and some of the patterns from Huntington Tower.”

To create a more castle-like ambience in the rest of the property, a team of artisan tradespeople were brought in to reinstate traditional features such as the wood panelling and coving. The minstrel’s gallery was brought back to life in the Great Hall and reception rooms were also

reintroduced. In its guise as guest house, the priority had been to have as many bedrooms as possible but as a family home this was no longer the aim. As such, Becky commandeered two of the bedrooms on the ground floor, changing them into a charming drawing room and library. “This

is why the drawing room and library have en suite bathrooms; it isn’t the norm but they’re actually quite useful.”

A family kitchen was fitted, all the bathrooms replaced and after a year’s work, the castle had been transformed into the perfect family home. Sadly, Neil didn’t get too long to enjoy it. “He was diagnosed with brain cancer at the end of 2012 and passed away in 2014. I stopped working in

2013 to look after him but with three kids, two of whom were quite young at nine and 11, we soon had to think of different ways of living in the castle.”

Becky initially opened up three rooms for B&B but found it quite restrictive so when a friend suggested self-catering, it seemed the obvious route to take. “It meant a few more changes as we had to decide to cut off part of the castle that we would no longer use. We then changed Neil’s study

and mine into bedrooms and the top floor into an apartment for the family. By 2016 we were ready to offer exclusive use, self-catering. We built the pavilion in the grounds which initially was going to be where the pool would be located. However, we decided it was

better to have a space where we could host functions so the pool went outside.”

“We’ve loved it as a family home, and we’ve used every room. It was very much a party house.”

A keen open water swimmer, (when we spoke, she’d just swum to France) Becky put in the pool to help her train.

“The local pools are great, but they don’t expect people to swim for six hours at a time! However, with the sea on the doorstep I actually don’t use it as much as I thought I would.”

In fact, the appeal of the sea is one reason for Becky’s decision to sell Castle of Park. “We’ve loved it as a family home, and we’ve used every room. It was very much a party house and we had people coming to stay all the time. Now, I only have one child at home and life would be

easier in a three-bed cottage by the sea.

My aim is to stay in the area, retire and swim.”

A new chapter beckons for Becky and for Castle of Park.

Knight Frank is inviting offers in excess of £1,500,000, visit www.knightfrank.co.uk

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