Francis has had a passion for castles ever since he was a young boy. It’s this passion that led him to train as an architect, although now he’s more used to putting up commercial buildings than rescuing wrecks. But after years of only dreaming about it, he finally got the chance to live in one.

To help them accomplish this almost Herculean task, Francis enlisted the help of six stone masons who lived and worked permanently on site during the project. They painstakingly pieced the castle back together using, wherever possible, the original stone. When that ran out they had to source and cut the rest from local quarries matching it carefully to the original.

Using his architectural skills, Francis has laid out the interior to create a large, open plan kitchen, sitting room and living space, as well as seven bedrooms all with en-suite. Medieval Castles have a reputation for being dark and draughty but this one is light and spacious due to the late addition of some Georgian windows on two sides.

It’s incredibly rare for a property like this to be available especially with such a lack of restrictions put on its restoration. Francis and Karen have got there hands on a fantastic structure that has weathered five centuries and, with their help, will be there for many years to come.