Carbisdale Castle is a huge Scots Baronial style castle in the Scottish Highlands and for 67 years was the grandest youth hostel in the world!
Built from 1905-1917 as a new residence for the Duchess of Sutherland after a family squabble over inheritance it was later used as a safe refuge for the Norwegian royal family during World War II.
In 1945 it was gifted to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association who ran it as the only youth hostel where “chores” could include dusting suits of armour! It closed as a youth hostel in 2011 due to requiring major repairs to weather damage.
The SYHA was unable to fund repairs needed to the Category B listed building and so it was sold without ever reopening. Rumoured plans for the castle since have been as a 21 bedroom luxury hotel and a private residence with swimming pool. Latest new reports have it back for sale in April 2021 for £1.5Million.
Rudy bought a lottery ticket, just in case!
1. The approach to Carbisdale Caste. 2. Carbisdale Court 3. Rudy wishes he had more time to explore Carbisdale Woods!
Carbisdale Castle’s Wikipedia page summarises the story of the castle with links to research more about it’s history. You can read the entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbisdale_Castle