The Real Castle Experience - Best Time Ever
We spent two nights at Leslie Castle with our family of four, and a friend’s family of four, and loved every ancient stone of the place. We had four rooms in all between adults and kids. There are only six rooms in total. Unlike many castle B&B’s that are a hotel setup inside a castle-exterior, this place delivered the living in a castle feel with huge fireplaces, small narrow doorways, huge stones, and each of the 53 windows was handmade leaded glass. Our son’s room was bordered by two turrets and the turrets have the arrows slits and holes for muskets, which if you have two young boys definitely delivers the goods. The story of the place is that the castle ruins were purchased by an architect who made rebuilding the place to the period his passion project, and it shows. You have to admire this guy’s dedication, because he started with a crumbling exterior with trees growing inside of it, and over the years turned it into something that is true to the period, but with our modern amenities. One of the nice features is a sitting room with fireplace where we drank red wine and played chess, like 15th century dudes. Breakfast was served daily in a breakfast hall, and included some cold items along with scrambled eggs, ham, sausage, and mushrooms with tomatoes. Our dinner was served in an ancient seeming dining hall with a wood burning stove warming the room, and aged paintings surrounding a long wooden table. The food was delicious and a great value. I’m a a vegetarian and they made a veggie moussaka for me. The others had haggis stuffed chicken, and fingerling potatoes. The hosts were knowledgeable and friendly. They helped us round out parts of our itinerary, and suggested a quick hike to a local roman arch. All in all a great place to stay.
