GRAND CASTLE PROJECT

PAGE 8

“WE’VE got a moat, and we’re not afraid to use it.”

While Tasmania has spent the past few months successfully quarantining from the rest of the country, a Geeveston couple have gone a step further and been working away on their own private moat and future home. It’s no ordinary home —

it’s a 17m-high castle surrounded by a man-made lake and sculpture garden.

Come October, Christina Kent and Francis Shepherd, who are both artists, will have been working on the project for a decade almost entirely on their own.

The couple moved to Tasmania from Queensland almost 14 years ago and bought the property, which is an old apple orchard.

They plan to live in Castle Phoenix when it is complete — which they predict will be in about three or four years.

Ms Kent said had they known it would take this long they may not have started.

“You have to have an element of naivety to start a project like this — if you thought about it too much you’d never go through with it,” she said.

“We’ve kept ourselves motivated by focusing on one job at a time and enjoying completing each step.

“Unfortunately, Francis was made redundant earlier this year, but we were chuffed we had more time to work on the castle.”

Work has progressed well this year with more time to work on the build during the pandemic, with the pair now halfway through the third level, which will take another six months to complete.

Next will be the rooftops, mosaic tiles on the exterior and the internal fit-out.

Mr Shepherd said it was a labour of love that continued to impress him.

“The whole thing is to be like a giant sculpture you can live in,” he said.

“The back of the castle is actually more interesting than the front. I look at it and that’s when it strikes me: ‘wow we did that — we’re building a castle — that’s crazy’.”

He said there were often people wanting to take a look at their quirky backyard project. “We get so many rubberneckers, I’m continually amused by it — I think they might think we’re crazy and might come out with a gun or something, but we’re more than happy to show people through,” he said.