Secret Passages

Secret passages are a given in any serious castle!

They can lead to an escape route, a secret room, a hidden entrance to another part of the castle or any number of places.

There are a few cliches in secret passage terms - but however cheesey they may be, I would want to include all of these in my castle! I guess I'm just a big kid at heart!


The fireplace

Made famous by all number of TV shows and movies - most notable Scooby Doo and Indiana Jones, the secret fireplace passageway is a huge cliche - but amazingly fun nonetheless!

I'm definitely having one of these!

There's actually a company who genuinely create and build these passages full time. 

That's their full time job! What a great job to have! Amazing! You can check out their website here. (seriously, take a look!)

It doesn't just have to be a revolving door in the fireplace either - check out this interlocking, hidden brickwork door below.  

 

Its like something out of diagon alley!

The bookcase

The secret-door-in-the-bookcase  is another classic example of a secret passage. No self respecting castle owner would be without one of these!

I'd have one of these in my library, leading to my study, cinema room, or games room like the one below.

"Who me? I'm just a Just a casual bookshelf, just casually shelving some books. Nothing to see here..."

 Or perhaps even a staircase into one of the towers?

Mirrors

This is getting really sneaky now - everyone expects the fireplace and bookcase but a mirror? Genius!

There are other great variants on this one - like a portrait (remind you of anything?)...

Or maybe a tapestry?

You can actually buy this one above for $170 online here.

Other ideas

If you thought the mirror was cool, wait until you see these... Remember that company who make secret passages for a living? Well they have got some amazing ideas to bring the concept into the 21st century. What kind of ideas you ask?

Well, how about a remote control operated stair case that opens up to reveal a hidden room? I wonder if they could do something like this with a spiral staircase?

Or what about this great hidden door, behind the projector screen in the home cinema?

Maybe you're feeling a little bit like escaping to Narnia. Don't worry. They have you covered:

Apparently, these guys can install vaults, safes, panic-rooms and more with security systems that include facial recognition and even bio-metric fingerprint scanning. Great if you're feeling a little paranoid!

And if all that's a little too high tech for you, how about some good old fashioned false wood paneling?

What do you guys think - do you have a favourite?

Where would you hide an entrance to a hidden room?

Location, Location, Location!

One of my favourite sites to look at for inspiration is the Knight Frank website. These guys specilise in property sales of mansions, castles, chateaus and "prime real estate" across the globe. I love to check out their site to see what's on sale around the world - particularly their page on french chateaus like this one below. Yours for just €1,000,000 if you can afford it! (look at that view!)

Location, location, location  

But enough dreaming! This particular post is about location! So... where to start?

Well for me, I'm looking for a few things in a location. Climate and weather come high up on my list - as do remoteness (a castle has to be a refuge right?!) scenery and landscape.  

Based on the above I can pretty much rule out the UK (weather) any large cities (remoteness) and anywhere with modern architecture or skyscrapers. Don't get me wrong - I love the UK - but I don't see myself retiring here!

No, for me it has to be France, Italy or somewhere in or close to the Mediterranean generally. 

I think its safe to say we can rule out Libya! (I'm not that adventurous). 

My top picks in terms of location are as follows: 

Croatia

France

Italy

So what do they have to offer?

Croatia

Croatia is gorgeous. I would love to go to Dubrovnik (pictured). It's where they filmed Game of Thrones  and would be a great setting for my castle!

There are already some excellent castles there as you might expect - including Cakovec Castle pictured below. Serious bonus points to Croatia for the horse. 

There's actually great blog about some of these castles, here. 

The water looks amazing there too - and they even have floating boats... (joke!)

France

France has a lot going for it as a location. WINE is high on the list here - but there are plenty of other reasons. I love the sophistication of a French Chateau - perhaps with a vineyard attached and well stocked 'cave' (Ok it's mostly about the wine)

That's not to say they don't have great Chateaus like this SIXTEEN BEDROOM behemoth in Sarlat - currently on the market for less than £1m!

I mean, seriously - If I had the money for this place..!

Italy 

Italy is another great option. Particularly Tuscany where the average temperature is in the mid 20s for most of the year and the landscape looks like this:

It's unreal - I mean, can you imagine climbing up onto the battlements and looking out and seeing this?

Or this?

Not to mention the castles they have already - some of which are amazing, like this one, Castello Di Vincigliata in Tuscany, Florence.

 

Also... did I mention wine?

Decisions, decisions!

What do you guys think? Where would you have your castle? 

Where would you ideally want to retire to?

Comment below and let me know your thoughts!

'An Englishman's home is his castle'

It's often said that "an Englishman's home is his castle".

In reality, this is a metaphor - an idiom that means that "your home is your refuge", regardless of its state.

To me however, the phrase has always conjured up images of owning and living in my very own castle...

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to live in and own my own castle - I'm picturing one with crenelations, secret passages, suits of medieval armour and amazing views over gorgeous green countryside...

And so I've created this blog - partly to provide myself with some motivation to chase this (honestly, slightly crazy) dream, partly to inspire you guys (my blog readers and fellow castle enthusiasts!) who might stumble upon it and partly to detail my favorite ideas along the way!

I'll be collecting and recording some of my ideas on; location, architecture, style, interior, exterior, decoration, crests (heraldry), mottos, moats, windows, layout, crenelations, flags, history, secret passages, bedrooms, kitchens, games rooms, dining rooms  wine cellars, escape routes and more! I'll also jot down some thoughts on the 'money no object' transport I'll need to ferry me to and from my new 'house' and on some of the extras I'll have to invest in like my vintage champagne collection, any particularly cool antiques I come across in my travels and anything else like this awesome life-size, 1:1 replica hoverboard (wall mounted in my cinema room of course).

So have a look though the posts, let me know your thoughts and please share and comment below!

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