Revamp at castle
Giving new lease of life
A historic Strath castle is being infused with a new lease of life thanks to a goahead mum with a passion for property development.
Covid hasn’t stopped lady of the manor Tracey Horton ploughing ahead with her plans to rejuvenate Culdees.
Designed by Scottish architect James Gillespie Graham in 1810, the stately structure was last occupied in 1968.
Tracey and partner Rob Beaton are determined to put the Muthill landmark firmly on the map again and have been working around the clock with the help of local contractors to breathe new life into the castle and its grounds.
The idea is that income from the newly- installed glamping pods and weddings held at the fairytale retreat will help fund the extensive renovation.
The pair had also planned to host a lot of free community activities this year until the virus called a halt to socialising at group gatherings.
Tracey said she feels blessed to live within a small slice of Scottish history.
She told the Herald: “Every day we make a positive change to this building. Every day we breathe a bit more life into the walls, respect the history and revive the past for future generations.
“We started clearing the castle on June 15 last year.
“I’ve got myself a nice little tight team of local tradespeople now – a builder that lives in Muthill, a joiner that lives in Crieff, an electrician from Muthill and my go-to plant hire person, Jimmy McRae from Comrie.
“Covid has been hard, and getting supplies has been difficult, but really 2020 has been good for us. I was furloughed from my day job so have just been cracking on with the work.
“We like to use local labour and the local shops and takeaways are also benefiting from our guests.”
Hands- on Tracey has also been getting stuck in herself, tackling lots of jobs from clearing the ivy that covered the castle to reveal its facade, to laying cables in trenches and shifting 46 tons of gravel to create a path to the pods.
And her hard work is beginning to pay off. The three newly-installed glamping pods have been well-used, with lockdown restrictions seeing local people keen to take ‘staycations’ at the romantic hideaway as well.
The pods are named after former custodians of the castle – Spiers, Drummond and Major, the latter after Major Maitland Gardner.
A new Grand Designs-style show for Channel 5 has been following Tracey in her endeavours.
Set to air between Christmas and New Year, crew members have been tracking progress.
And Tracey can’t wait to be able to host weddings at the castle.
The pods are already being used by couples for romantic getaways and ‘love locks’ are beginning to appear on one of her newly-installed gates.
She added: “As soon as the Christmas break is over I have a plumber, joiner and builder starting to put the roof back on the courtyard and get the toilets installed at the castle.
“Unfortunately, due to Covid we have not been able to hold the community events we had planned.
“We were hoping to have a big garden party in September but that had to be cancelled. I’m hoping for a village Easter Egg hunt though. We had some pupils from the school up at Easter this year but we’d like to open that up to even more children next year”.
However, should restrictions ease, Tracey said her main wish is to hold a Mother’s Day event.
She added: “My goal at the moment is to be able serve tea and cake on Mother’s Day in the castle’s restored glass roofed courtyard.”