Castle

Maybe I don’t need to buy a castle after all.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to buy (and live) in a castle. They’re generally not cheap but in the UK (and to an even greater extent in France), they’re not completely preposterously unaffordable. I’ve worked in tech a long time and, if I pulled out all the stops, ruined myself financially, and chose a cheap area (Scottish Borders, Wales, Argyll & Bute) I could probably afford a smallish castle.

I spend a lot of time on Rightmove imagining this. I’ve even called up an Estate Agent before about a castle.

The problem is, I now live in a big house with a big garden. It’s too big, to be honest. Sure, the bathrooms could be bigger. But we have a room downstairs with a piano and bookcases in it and, while beautiful, it rarely gets anybody in it. It’s my dream room (except it needs a leather armchair or two and a drinks globe)…and I never go in there.

So with a large (but certainly not castle-sized) house I have too much space and a room I don’t know what to do with. I also have about half an acre of garden and again, it’s too big. I love wandering around in it, but maintaining it is a pain. The last castle I looked at had 27 acres. Can you imagine?

I still lust after castles and find it hard to believe that I’ll never live in one. But honestly, I don’t actually think I should buy one.