Castles in the Air (Audible Audio Edition) Judy Corbett Charlotte Strevens Random House AudioBooks Books
Download As PDF : Castles in the Air (Audible Audio Edition) Judy Corbett Charlotte Strevens Random House AudioBooks Books
Castles in the Air is a beautifully written, autobiographical story of rescuing an ancient mansion. Gwydir Castle was inhabited by ravers and rats until Judy Corbett and her husband Peter Welford found and acquired this 500-year-old house mouldering in the foothills of Snowdonia. Despite the toads, strange smells and squatters, they decided to mortgage themselves to the hilt to bring the castle back to life.
This is an evocatively written and genuinely moving book and is infused with an extraordinary sense of place. The couple's adventures in a gothic wonderland lead them through plots both supernatural and historical. In a museum storeroom in a Bronx warehouse they find a missing room, in the castle's Solar Tower the ghost of a young woman appears and from the far edges of the woods a silent man called Sven emerges to befriend the couple and their beloved castle.
Castles in the Air (Audible Audio Edition) Judy Corbett Charlotte Strevens Random House AudioBooks Books
I stumbled across this book, since I am planning a trip to Wales in the distant future--and also love old derelict mansions. What a treat to find such a brilliant writer! Her prose is just so wonderful, some description on every page makes me gasp or sigh. I don't totally believe that things happened as perfectly as she describes, and I didn't really buy into the ghost story chapter either, but she has a unique story-telling ability, that I can say, as someone who makes their living as a writer, is rare these days. I ordered a used copy of Envy, her novel, and can't wait for it to ship from the UK.Product details
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Castles in the Air (Audible Audio Edition) Judy Corbett Charlotte Strevens Random House AudioBooks Books Reviews
In northern Wales, 11 miles south of Conwy and 4 miles north of Betws-y-coed, across the bridge from the village of Llanrwst, on the floodplain between the River Conwy and the B5106 road, lies Gwydir Castle, the ancestral home of the Wynn family. Largely of 16th century construction, it's actually what remains of a more extensive Tudor courtyard manor house, and is the finest example of such in Wales.
Peter Welford and Judy Corbett, an architectural historian and a bookbinder respectively, pooled their meager life savings and a substantial bank loan to buy the place in the early 1990s. CASTLES IN THE AIR by Corbett is the utterly charming story of the pair's labors to restore Gwydir from its abysmally ruinous condition at purchase to something resembling its former glory.
The book offers a little something for everyone. There are the restoration adventures, of course, and also romance; Peter and Judy subsequently marry in an ancient chapel on a nearby hilltop. There's a fairly convincing supernatural ingredient that involves Peter being the unfortunate focus of animosity coming from the ghost of Lady Margaret Cave, a 17th century mistress of the manor, which resulted in his being struck on the head with a spade. There's hidden treasure, in this case the original carved wooden paneling stripped in totality from the dining room and auctioned off as a single lot in 1921 to (as it turned out) the American millionaire William Randolph Hearst, and later bequeathed to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, which still had it stored in the original packing crates in a warehouse on the rough side of town. Throughout the narrative runs Judy's dry English wit, such as when she describes the visit by an impeccably dressed representative ("Please, just call me Bill") of The Met, who was so impressed by his first view of the castle that
"... he didn't look where he was going and stepped into the biggest pile of peacock guano you have ever seen. Peter silently directed him to a patch of rough grass where he endeavoured to remove the vile-smelling substance from the stitching of his fine Italian shoes."
Above all, CASTLES IN THE AIR is the story of the pair's love affair with and dedication to something old, historic, and worth saving in the face of seemingly impossible odds. And it would seem they've succeeded beyond their wildest dreams; the recovery and reinstallation of the Dining Room paneling brought a visit by the Prince of Wales himself, though his shoes did stick to the floor varnished only hours before his arrival.
Judy describes herself and Peter as socially reticent almost to the point of misanthropy. Therefore, the fact that they accept paying B&B guests as well as hire out the ground floor halls out for weddings - see the official Gwydir Castle website - is indication of the financial strain imposed by the ongoing refurbishment of the manor house that continues to this day and into the foreseeable future. The Welford's affection for the ancient pile is evident in Judy's words
"... to walk in the moon-washed shadows of the yew trees and to see the ancient profile of the house silhouetted against a cloudless sky was to feel oneself suspended out of time, as though in that moment we were living in parenthesis. Sometimes, if the night was cold enough, the trails of yesterday's peacock tails would be cast in frost across the patches of lawn we had managed to scythe the day before ... We would walk down to the bottom of the garden and sit on the massive slate bench ... with the sounds of the night rustling and chirruping around us."
How incredibly rewarding the lives of these two must be!
Overall, I mostly enjoyed this pleasant little book. (It was full of both very humorous and very boring parts, so it was a mixed-bag). The restoration stories were entertaining, but I think this couple certainly must have a screw loose to live in such horrible conditions while they renovated their "castle"! I do agree with another reviewer who said that she found it appalling how this couple took money from the Welsh government and then wouldn't answer the door for the agreed-upon visitors. (If you have to borrow money with conditions attached to it, then you have to live up to your word, regardless of your personal annoyance!) I am glad to have read this memoir, although I gave it away to my local library since I am not interested in reading it again someday.
I just received the book and am only into the first third, but I can, without hesitation, say it is captivating and rewarding. I was, and am (although currently frustrated due to lack of projects), a restorer. It only took three pages for me to know I travel the same path as Corbett & Welford, both in spirit and determination. These kinds of restorers are driven by love, dreams, and a powerful determination to rescue & save.
I was a contractor for a while and dealt with different kinds of clients. There were those who wanted to turn an old house into a fragile museum, those who wanted to turn an old house into a drop-ceiling/wall-to-wall/vinyl paneled box, those who wanted to take off the moldings & doors, protect the floors & stairs, then completely gut & modernize the house before putting the "charm" back on. Very rarely was there a client who wanted relaxed authenticity - which was why my work as a contractor lasted only "a while".
It's the authenticity of their restoration that I applaud. These are people who strive to return the house to its original state out of respect for its history & craftsmanship. For people like these two, it's a matter of honor. And I understand that.
So, if you suffer from that perilous passion to rescue & restore old buildings, this is the book to keep you good company.
A descendant of the original owners of Gwydir Castle told me about this book. I read it and loved it! I loved it so much that 5 years ago and then again in April 2018, we visited the Castle. They have two really nice B&B rooms they rent. You have free range of the castle before they open for tours. The ghost stories are very compelling. So compelling that when I walked into our sitting room, which was open to tourists during the day, I scared the bejeebies our of a father and his two sons!!!! Go stay there if you're in the neighborhood...if you can't stay, do visit!
I stumbled across this book, since I am planning a trip to Wales in the distant future--and also love old derelict mansions. What a treat to find such a brilliant writer! Her prose is just so wonderful, some description on every page makes me gasp or sigh. I don't totally believe that things happened as perfectly as she describes, and I didn't really buy into the ghost story chapter either, but she has a unique story-telling ability, that I can say, as someone who makes their living as a writer, is rare these days. I ordered a used copy of Envy, her novel, and can't wait for it to ship from the UK.
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