My Friend’s Castle

When I lived in Wales, I worked in a 12th century castle.

But one of the friends with whom I worked, actually had a family castle, which I was reminded of the other day, when someone on the Facebook group, Country Houses of the UK and Ireland posted some images of it.

Fonmon Castle is not a huge castle, but it’s a castle, none-the-less! It’s been in Pen’s family for about 600 years and her brother lives there now. She lives on the property’s Home Farm in a fabulous house with stables. Like many other families with homes like Fonmon, they’re now renting it out as a corporate retreat or a wedding venue. I remember going to a garden show there, which was pretty amazing. Click here for a little video tour.

Most unfortunately, all of my pictures of Fonmon were lost when my computer was stolen, but there are some good ones that I’ve found!

Here’s the detail of the ceiling which you can see in the images above.

This is the old kitchen, with racks of ancient pewter plates and mugs. It’s used for informal dinners.

What could be better than blue and white china and old books?

I remember being amazed by this rich colour on the walls. Shame about the weird door on the landing though!

And how about this kitchen?

I am so lucky that I had the chance to visit this charming castle and get to know the family who owns it. That’s what I miss about living in the UK.