Be honest – how often do you imagine what life would be like if you were the lady/lord of a castle? If you’ve been hooked on the Traitors, it’s probably been at least three times a week, but even if you’re not, you can’t pretend it’s never crossed your mind.
Owning a home of any sort feels like enough of a distant dream for many of us that it’s not even that much of a leap to mentally go straight to castle-hunting – and the perfect medieval-era joint is officially on the market.
The Ripley Castle in Yorkshire, which was built in the fourteenth century, is a proper fortress. We’re talking an entire estate of 445 acres, complete with a cricket pitch, tea room, gift shop and even a built-in wedding venue. That’s right – you can finally buy the entire gift shop. Literally.
The current owners, Sir Thomas and Lady Ingilby, are selling up to ‘focus on other interests’, despite the building having been in the family for 26 generations, which is somewhere around 500 years, give or take a few.
The Ingilbys have divided the property into nine lots to sell, but don’t fret, you can buy them all at once for the small price of £21 million. Okay, there’s not really any way you can square that where it isn’t pretty expensive but hey, you are buying an entire hotel and gift shop as well as a castle. You get what you pay for, as they say.
The estate agent responsible for the sale, Carter Jonas, has described the estate as having ‘countless possibilities to transform it further into a remarkable family home and business that can be cherished for generations’.
If you’re sold, here’s a snapshot of what you could call home.
You can view the full listing on Rightmove here.
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