Happy Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to family and friends and indeed friends of Balintore Castle all over the world! In these days of electronic communications. blogs and social media the need for any form of Christmas newsletter is diminishing. Everyone, if they care to connect up can find out exactly how I am getting on at any stage. A common question I get is “How is the castle coming along?”. I try not to say “Read the blog!” because this is more a concerned social inquiry such as “How are you?” and I will try to give a quick and interesting snapshot, and not bore people.

In this light, the best role of a Christmas blog entry is to give the past year some kind of perspective, and 2013 felt quite significant for the restoration of the castle. The summer was glorious, the best I have ever experienced and it was possible to make a huge push.  I’m not saying there’s not a long way to go. but the feeling is that the infamous corner that one turns is in sight. For once I timed my gap between contracts to coincide with the summer - hurrah!.

I always say that I am really going to take advantage of a long hot summer and do lots of outdoors things. Normally work and other commitments get in the way, but this year is the first time I can honestly say I lived that dream. Sure, other things did catch up with me, but by-and-large I was able to get physically involved in the restoration for much of the endless summer. When the sun is out, and the sky is blue, there is no nicer place to be than on the roof of the castle with the countryside lying out beneath one.

For the first time ever the weather at the castle was too hot, if only slightly, though my roofer Andy who goes caravanning at Aviemore in the snow, declared he was expiring in the heat! He certainly got a bad case of sunburn on the castle’s roof one day, and covered-up more from then on. In the less clement weather, Andy has been pushing ahead with reconstructing floors. It takes a great deal of skill to work out how to take out the rotten wood, replace with new wood, without everything else collapsing in the process - many others would, and have fled. My thanks go to Andy and everyone else who helped out this year.

And three images to complete the blog!

This amazing sunset from the top of the great tower was taken by a friend of Balintore called Berthy who helped fight the wind farm. The photo was taken at the party to celebrate the anti wind-farm victory a few months back. As Berthy took the photo, I was tempted to say “Sunsets never turn out in photos as good as they are in real life.”. Just as well I kept quiet as I was quite wrong!

Sunset at Balintore Castle from Berthy

Now a fantastic bit of CD artwork from Andreas and Sylvia : two special friends of Balintore from Leipzig. The visited in the summer, but it turns out they have been visiting the castle since 2001, long before I ever saw it. Andreas sent me a special CD afterwards with his photographic record and wonderful  poems. The words on the cover say something very true about the sun at Balintore, which I alluded to  earlier in the blog. The “thief” comment is a little joke as Andreas kindly returned some door handles, etc, he had taken as souvenirs. It is wonderful that these have been re-united with the castle after their return trip to Leipzig!

Balintore Castle CD Art from Andreas

If only the rest of the world could share the good karma of the wonderful people I have met at Balintore!

And, phew, finally a Christmassy snowy image of the the castle! :-) There has not been much snow this year so I thought I wouldn't be able to deliver. However, this was taken yesterday (23rd) before the rain melted it away. Happy Christmas!

A White Christmas at Balintore Castle: Winter 2013

Final Plans!

Here is the second and final set of the scanned-in Victorian plans for Balintore Castle. These plans are all "plans" c.f. elevations. When I started technical drawing at secondary school, it tickled me no end to discover that "plan" has a distinct particular meaning (i.e. a view from above) as well as a more general one of an accurately representational drawing of an object. You will observe that the Victorian architect numbers their plans from the bottom up; and that the Elizabethan blogger has chosen to honour that order of presentation below. :-)

Plan 1 Foundations and Drains

Plan 2 Basement Floor

Plan 3 Principal Floor

Plan 4 Principal Bed Room Floor

Plan 5 Attics and Roofs

Plan 11 Floor Girders

Plan 12 Girders in Attic Floor Details etc

Sections and Elevations

The original plans for Balintore Castle do exist, but I have only ever seen a small and indistinct photocopy. Many thanks to friend of Balintore  Duncan Tattersall for these high resolution scans. I particularly love the sections which show how the internal features of the building relate to the outside, which is at core the "smarts" of architecture.

Plan 6 - West Elevation

Plan 7 South and North Elevations

Plan 8 East Elevation

Plan 9 Sections

Plan 10 Sections

Fields of Blue and Gold

There are certain times of the year when the serendipitous colour combinations of wild-flowers lift the spirit. This summer, the castle's terrace was blessed by the "blue and gold" of the Speedwell and the Buttercup. I provide this photograph in the hope, that the memory of summer will brace you against the onslaught of winter. It is no accident, methinks, that one of the most charming hostelries in Dundee is "The Speedwell", The gleaming brass and porcelain Victorian "facilities" there, are themselves worth the price of admission alone.

Summer 2013: fields of blue and gold at Balintore Castle

Winter is Coming

One of the ways to offset the downer that is winter, is to lay down a good wood supply. Not only is one taking an active stance, which is good for morale, but the warmth and spectacle of a wood fire are eternal mood lifters.

This is the first winter Balintore Castle has had an organised wood supply, stored in the dry, and which has been chopped into lengths suitable for the wood burner. Previously, wood fires were on an ad-hoc basis, with the wood often being the wrong size or damp from being outside.

I can offer no particular explanation of the reform from chaos to order. However, it may be that ongoing work has made the castle a more practical place to exist in, and this enabling has tipped the balance on certain aspects of civilised living.

The Balintore wood supply is in the old housekeeper's basement linen room, I'm sure she understands. :-)

this winter's wood supply at Balintore Castle

The forestry plantations in the area feature larch, which have just turned a wonderful yellow colour prior to the dropping of their needles. Larch is that rarity a deciduous conifer. There are around 20 species of deciduous conifers and most of these belong to the larch family. The view is out of a north facing window in the castle's entrance tower.

larch trees in early winter yellow plumage at Balintore Castle

Mensa, Mensa Puzzle: A Balintore Detective Story !

It was from talking to a neighbour, that I found out an original table from Balintore Castle was installed at Inverquharity Castle (circa 1440) just 8 miles away. The contents of Balintore Castle, had been sold off at auction, as far as I can tell, in the 1980's. As I knew of no other items of furniture from Balintore Castle, this was quite a discovery!

I subsequently met the owners of Inverquharity Castle at a social event. They had restored their building in the 1960's, very much part of the advance guard of castle restoration in Scotland. At that time, only two other castles in Scotland were under restoration: one of which was Inchdrewer Castle which I talked about in a previous blog entry. The owners of Inverquharity were fabulous company: we talked castles all evening and had to be forcibly separated by the host so we would mingle with other guests. :-) As regards the table, I was told very politely and with a wry relish that "You are not having it back!". 

Several years later, I learned that Inverquharity had been sold, so I chased up the original owners and was told that, due to its size, the Balintore table had been left behind. I contacted the new owners, and they were not averse to the notion of reuniting the table with Balintore Castle, and indeed they had been contemplating making a new refectory table with an amazingly huge slab of wood they found in Inverquharity's woodshed: a piece of solid chestnut (?) perhaps 10' x 5' x 4". I have never, ever seen a refectory table top made from a single piece of wood!

I was invited to visit Inverquharity Castle to view the table: a very appealing piece of furniture indeed in a warm almost orangey pitch-pine. The table was large, plain and workmanlike and had allegedly come from the Servant's Hall at Balintore Castle. The sides had been cut-down somewhat to allow people to sit down at it with their legs underneath. I also viewed the slab of chestnut in the woodshed, and was shown some of the original 15th Century timbers that had been pulled out and replaced during the original restoration.  Quite a wood collection! Out of the corner of my eye I spotted what looked like an old Victorian pine kitchen table which had been used for wood-working - a large vice was screwed to it.

Inverquharity Castle Great Hall (from estate agent's brochure)

The new owners of Inverquharity were generous enough to give me and my friend Andrew a lengthy guided tour of Inverquharity Castle itself. My thanks go to them. I was more than in my element and ultimately was left reeling, The building is the most intact early tower house, I would suspect in the whole of Scotland. The principal tower appears largely unaltered since the day it was built. The great hall is even more spectacular in the flesh than the picture in the property brochure (below) would lead you to believe. It is a museum quality building, yet in use as a private residence: something to be celebrated. It could certainly give any National Trust property a run for its money. The tour left me in no doubt how much the new owners love the building, They had already shored up the superstructure of the building and had made it weather-proof, and were in the process of bringing the interior sensitively up-to-date with modern standards of habitability. 

I was left with the strong impression of custodianship. as the building was transitioning between owners. Individuals are the reality of how historic buildings survive into the future. Both the restoration in the 1960's and the current work are vital links in that chain. Take away either work phase, and the building could be lost like so many others. I found this commitment deeply moving, and put my own involvement in Balintore in a new deep time context.

As I drove away from Inverquharity Castle, Andrew said he thought the old kitchen table in the woodshed was from Balintore. "So what was the table we were shown in the dining room then, I asked?". It was confusing, but Andrew did have a point - the woodshed table had the right massive look - you could see Mrs. Patmore from "Downton Abbey" vigorously kneading dough on it! What's more there had been tales of the Balintore table needing 5 people to lift it, to be then handled by a mechanical lifter. The dining room table was large and heavy, but two people could manage to move it.

I phoned the original owners: "Which was the genuine Balintore table?". They then revealed, there were two Balintore tables at Inverquharity: the Servant's Hall table in their dining room, and the kitchen table in their wood shed. Full marks to Andrew for his detective work! In fact, he further suspects their dining room table actually comes from the dinner service room at Balintore, as the table is more of a servery table than a dining one. He spotted a similar table in a servery in another historic building he visited. There is another contrary theory that diners sat further from the table in the past, with the table-cloth spreading outwards on top of their laps. A contemporary painting supports this.

With the exchange of a few shekels - the two tables were recently brought back to Balintore Castle, I cannot stress enough how important and joyful this was to the building and me. :-) It marks the turning of the tide. For many decades, item after item have been stripped from the building.  I scheduled the furniture move on the same day as a small celebration in connection with the victory against the proposed windfarm development adjacent to the castle. Not only would I have an available workforce, of at least 5, to manhandle the tables, but I could use the Servant's Hall table that very day for the food buffet. The kitchen table will need some"Mary Rose"-style timber work, as it has been out in the rain for several decades, but it feels good to have it back at the castle, and it can serve as a style guide for the kitchen restoration.

Reclaiming the tables for Balintore has been a tale of many years involving detective work; waiting patiently; trying to seize opportunities and of course the kind cooperation of a couple of generations of Inverquharity Castle owners! Thanks to them and the veritable army of table-wranglers Andy, Andrew, Brian and Paul.

table pick up at Inverquharity

table wranglers (left to right): Andrew, Andy, Brian and Paul

Andrew checks the rigging, before setting sail.

tables arrive back at Balintore

table in use that very evening

Oh, Deer

It was the last day of Duncan’s visit to the castle. He had been working hard as a restoration volunteer throughout his stay, so I decided that as a reward we should go for a walk in the sunshine in the beautiful surrounding countryside. I borrowed the builder’s dog “Rascal” and off we set towards the “Backwater Reservoir”. This is a huge body of water just over a hill from Balintore, so you would think we couldn’t miss it, so despite it being my first trip there I didn’t bother to check up first on Google Maps.

We navigated by instinct, and as no body of water appeared round any bend in the path, we veered off to the left across a field, and then decided to follow lower rather than higher contours. We found ourselves in a narrow glen of astounding beauty, with a lush green grassy path winding along the bottom and lofty crags on  either side towering above us. We followed this path; no water appeared. We continued for some time, but still no water. Should we go forward into the unknown or retrace our route and return the builder’s dog before the builder left work for the day? The latter seemed to be the only sensible course of action, so we returned without reaching our objective. However, the glen was so beautiful I will definitely be back! We found out later that we had been on the correct track for the reservoir, and had given up with just a third of the path along the bottom of the glen to go.

As we got close to the castle, Duncan exclaimed “There is a deer caught in the fence”. I would have missed it, had I been on my own. We approached to see what we could do. The deer was very much alive, but one of its hind legs was caught on the barbs and it was suspended upside down. I put on my gloves and tried to lift the deer’s leg off the barbs by pulling it the other way. By the end I was exerting quite a force, and was scared of breaking its leg. The leg did not budge. The deer was screaming. Perhaps, if someone could lift its body up at the same time, the tension on the leg would be less, and I could get it off? Duncan was a wee bit squeamish (understandably!), so I judged the best thing would be to get help from a neighbour or my builder. I drove my builder back to where the deer was trapped. En route, my builder asked if I wanted the deer for a casserole for the event I was going to cater in a couple of days. I was rather shocked and replied that this was an animal in distress and I wanted him to help rescue it!

Instead of walking down a slope from the road. the builder made a bee-line for the animalby leaping over the intervening stream. I was about to follow, then realised quite how wide the stream was and stopped in my tracks! By the time I had taken the leap, barely catching the opposite bank, my builder had managed to cut the animal down with some wire-cutters.

We stood back to allow the deer to calm down and run off, but it was pitiful. The leg was useless, bleeding and cut to the bone all around. I had spotted earlier that despite being impaled on one side, the leg also looked cut on the other. The gamekeeper later explained that the deer get their legs caught between two wires when leaping, and these form pincers when the two wires twist as the body of the deer continues over the fence. 

Anyhow, the deer could not get to its feet, was screaming and the consensus was that she had to be put out of her misery. I went back to the castle to fetch some knives, while my builder did the necessary with a big stone. I could not have done this so I was very grateful. My builder asked if I wanted to be present “Not if I have the choice.” came my reply. I was worried about being traumatised, and doing the best thing for the deer.

As I came back, equipped with knives and with a sledgehammer and standard hammer (just in case), I saw something flying through the air into the forest. It was the deer’s head! I was inwardly grateful that I had missed this stage, but was determined to watch the rest. My builder swiftly skinned the animal and waved the hide in my direction: “Do you want this?”. “No thanks,”, I replied  “it’s a bit too small for a rug.”, but in my mind I was playing out the horrors of the tanning process, The deer was possibly a couple of years old, so the hide was not that large.

My new and hence very sharp vegetable knife was proving to be  the perfect instrument for eviscerating. As my builder delved into the body cavity, there was a spurt of yellow liquid which went over his hand. He pulled this back in disgust. “I think that’s the bladder” I commented facilely. but mainly for comfort. Next to come out were some large greyish organs I could not identify - possibly some of the ruminant’s extra stomachs? After a further delve my builder deftly pulled out the kidneys, one in each hand: “Do you want these?”. These were beautifully pink and egg-shaped, and the shocked expression on my face led my builder to further prompt “They are delicious.”. To which I could only say “Yes.”. Next came the liver “Do you want this?”; another expression of shocked indecision; another “It’s delicious.” and another wan “Yes.”. Fortunately, I had brought a bucket with the tools so I rinsed this in the stream, so I could gather the bits.

My builder skilfully transformed the animal into a carcass: a thin transparent membrane encasing the muscles glinted an intense ultramarine blue in the sunshine. The contrast with the deep red-purple of the muscle was astonishing. The beauty in death was Mishima-esque.

I inquired whether I should get a plastic bag to take the carcass back to the castle. “No, just fling it in the back of your pick-up.” came the reply. I felt rather stupid for not working this out myself: a pick-up was more of a life-style choice than I had bargained for.

My builder washed the carcass in the butler’s sink and jointed this for me: two (fore) legs; two haunches; back and neck, and saddle. There appears to be no end to my builder's hidden skills. At this stage, things were sufficiently removed from the animal, that  I was able to start cutting the joints into cubes for the casserole. Duncan had avoided the butchering in the field but gamely joined me in the cubing. The haunches of a deer are the most extraordinary pieces of meat: no fat whatsoever, just pure muscle. Yes, I know I should have slow-roasted these but I wanted to use the best cuts for my guests, so these went into the casserole. All-in-all there was around 7 lb of prime venison which would have cost around £100 at a butcher’s. I reserved the saddle and put it in the freezer, for future slow roasting, and kept back some other bits for venison soup, etc. - but basically the majority of the meat went into a casserole recipe which I scaled up to 24 servings. This filled my largest catering-sized pot to the brim!

jointed deer at Balintore Castle

venison casserole 

I had not been present before for the complete processing of an live animal into food, and it gave me considerable pause for thought, particularly as it was so unexpected. Fortunately, I am not squeamish, but what prayed in my mind was the swift transition from life to death: there but for the grace of God go I. Little separates a human in distress from a deer in distress. That evening, I asked Duncan if he could make a vegetarian dish for the evening meal! I reflected that both squeamishness and moral ponderings are hallmarks of “spoiled children” of modern society, and for Neolithic man, finding a deer caught in a fence would be a cause for rejoicing not for panic. At the same time, there is space I think for “good karma” i.e. using as much of the deer as possible and empathetically minimising its suffering.

Casseroles are perfect when catering for large and/or variable numbers. However, I am not impressed by the quality of meat from supermarkets, so recently I have largely done vegetarian or sometimes chicken dishes. The quality of this venison was ne plus ultra. I knew precisely where it had come from, and that it was incredibly fresh. The casserole, in the end, was delicious and my guests made it disappear alarmingly but gratifyingly quickly.

I had not had any venison “from the wild” previously, despite owning a shooting lodge in a hunting landscape for 6 years. That it should eventually arrive 2 days before I had to cater for 24 guests, and that I would personally assist in the butchering, does make one reflect upon the unexpected coherence of real-life narrative.

As a postscript, when my builder found out we had failed to reach the Backwater Reservoir he was so concerned that Duncan had missed such a beautiful spot where he loves to fish, that he took us there the next day just before Duncan drove off in his own car. You can’t beat mountains reflecting in highland-blue lochs on a sunny day. I will be coming back again and again to Backwater: the life-and-death drama has forever etched the landscape in my mind.

Stars at Balintore

Last night it howled a gale. The electricity went down at 9 PM, and has only just come on again this morning at 10:30 AM. I was concerned the power would be down for days. 

Anyhow, my visitor Duncan and I were reduced to watching the film "The Wolfman" on a laptop by the wood burner. We did the first 75 minutes of the film, before the charge ran out, tantalisingly, just at the climax.  Due the howling wind, mother nature supplied an atmospheric surround-sound soundtrack. The wind inside the castle blew out the candle I was trying to use to get to bed. There was much groping in the dark. Duncan was braver and went out to get some photographs. The wind had blown away the last hint of a cloud, and the stars were amazing as Duncan's photograph below shows.

stars at Balintore

Spot the Furry Visitor

A friend called Duncan is helping out at Balintore for a few days. As he was typing away on his laptop in the ruined castle scullery yesterday evening, he had a little furry visitor. Can you spot the critter in the first photograph? If not, I have enlarged the interloper for the second image.

spot the furry visitor

So what kind of animal is this? Duncan thought it might be a stoat. I thought it looked more like a pine martin. My builder says it is a ferret with a hint of pole cat. I am tempted to believe my builder as he has kept ferrets in the past. If anyone would like to toss their own oar in ...... ? :-)

furry visitor close-up

Sadly, I never have had furry visitors as cute as Duncan's, and haven't even seen one of these in the wild.

Fantasy vs. Reality

In her fantasy life, Ms. Balintore plays an English boarding school, behind whose walls lies a sinister web of corruption, scandal and conspiracy. This is a genuine book cover created by my talented artist friend Catherine McIntyre . Coming to a bookstore near you!

Ms. Balintore's fantasy life

In her real life, Ms. Balintore was today hosting my friend Andrew and myself as we laid down winter wood supplies. A couple of weeks ago, the electricity company chopped down a massive yew tree close to the castle, while putting in a new overhead supply cable.  This was too good an opportunity to miss. Armed with my 240 volt electric chainsaw (that real men don't use), an inverter, and his land rover's car battery, Andrew turned the tree into logs for the wood burner. I dragged away the detritus, and built a bonfire on the castle terrace. We kept going all afternoon. Winter will be much the more bearable knowing there is now an impressive supply of fuel.

woodsman in lopping frenzy

logs for the wood burner

bonfire with castle in autumn evening sunshine 

Game of Thrones

The keen-eyed amongst you, may spot the burring of art and life courtesy of a novel "Game of Thrones" sigil designed by my friend Andrew.

spot the interloper

Kinnaird Castle

It is salutary to keep abreast of other baronial piles in the area, :-) so I was delighted to visit Kinnaird Castle on Sunday 15th September with three friends under the Angus Open Doors Scheme. 

the Open Doors tickets

Kinnaird (many times the size of Balintore) is in private ownership, so the opportunity was not to be missed and I was decidedly in my element. :-) Although, I would say that many of the fancy detailings depart from the Baronial style so much, that it becomes more "generic country house froth" and while greatly enjoyable, they are not artistically pure.

I especially loved the 1400's part of the building. It felt warm and dry in the castle even in the ground floor mediaeval vaulting - and the housekeeper said that contrary to expectations "It's by no means a cold building". Also warm was the Servant's Hall so it was interesting to compare this with Balintore's freezing equivalent.

I was checking out all the wood strip floors in the interior, as I am currently trying to source reclaimed wooden flooring. The wooden floors look great at Kinnaird, despite not all being in the best of condition - so I was reassured on the reclaim option - my reclaim stuff is in slightly better condition. :-)

We were graciously shown round by the Earl of Southesk. He is set to inherit the Duke of Fife title on his father's death. My thanks go to him, and indeed everyone who made the visit possible.

There was a huge fire in 1921: fortunately most of the contents were saved with the locals carrying things out the building, but the interior was destroyed, Given the date, things were put back somewhat simpler that before, and the woodwork was not at that Victorian apex of craftsmanship.

Fascinatingly, not all the rooms have been restored since the fire. The library is still a shell but an absolutely magnificent space - the biggest room in the castle that we saw. It was roofed after the fire and is now used as a badminton court, Another unrestored reception room is now used for cricket, complete with the run, bails and netting round the room!

The Earl seemed to be most taken with the Georgian incarnation of the castle, and at one stage said "Sadly, it had a Victorian make-over". I smiled inwardly, as the Victorian make-over is what, for me, makes the building so fantastic. There is still prejudice against the Victorian.

It was encouraging for the long haul restoration, that I am engaged with at Balintore, to see a huge Baronial building in use as a comfortable home. There was a particularly lovely drawing room, with sunlight streaming in through the window. Amongst the antique furniture and paintings, were a collection of board games - it was clear the owners love spending time there.

The only downside of the visit was seeing the Kinnaird Castle gong. I thought my recently acquired antique gong was as large as you could get. Gong envy is such an ugly emotion.

I thought the entrance façade was massive, with an astoundingly monumental porte-cochère

entrance façade and porte-cochère

That was until I saw the even larger garden façade.  The derelict library is behind the tall windows on the right hand side.

garden façade 

My envy on a-spying the gryphon waterspouts was unbridled.

gryphon waterspouts

Can you decipher the name of the cryptically encoded name(s) of the architect(s)? This is your "Dan Brown" challenge. I failed! The date is very close to Balintore's 1860, so no doubt the rival architects were aware of each other.

can you work out the architects ?

 The stable block at the back is totally charming:

stable block

The stable block was built just before the main Victorian "make-over", is smaller scale and has a sense of whimsy,

stable hopper head  - dated 1854

Loved this curved door by the stable. No wiser words on children were ever uttered, than by this sign.

curved door with child flap

What an amazing finial on this tower by the stables - note the central thistle! 

finial fantasy

Thanks go to my friend Andrew for taking the photos. I didn't even have a camera phone with me, so shamefully gave Andrew orders!