A Walk-Round with the Manager

We're in a run of cool northerly winds which are bringing bright sunny intervals and light showers, but also the first feel of autumn, so it was good to be able to walk dry-foot down to the castle along the newly-laid tarmac surface. I like the way the castle seems to hide behind the oak trees until one is almost upon it.

I accompanied Holly Bull who, with husband Chris, will be managing Mingary Castle once it is handed over by the builders in a few weeks time. She's seen here talking to builder Mark Rutherford-Thompson. One of the areas that's still rather inaccessible is the upper floor of the west wing, where there is....

....a bright and airy bedroom with, beyond it....

....an en suite bathroom.  Areas of the castle like this will be available to bed & breakfast clients as well as those looking for a longer-term stay.

Holly and Chris are busy working on the Mingary Castle website - there's a holding page here - as well as dealing with all the furniture and fittings which are beginning to arrive. For example, Holly was discussing with Mark Thompson a chandelier which is to be fitted in the breakfast room which lies between the east and north ranges.

We admired the radiators have begun to go in to the north range. The one seen here is one of those in the attic rooms, and all will be run off the wood chip boiler. As Holly pointed out, visitors will be able to sit on the windowsill to enjoy the view across the Sound of Mull to Tobermory while keeping their feet warm.

Behind the radiator is the first of the oak skirting boards which are being fitted throughout the range. Working on this was....

.... joiner Martin Theaker whom we watched as he cut a length of skirting into which he had made 'windows' for the electrical fittings.

Where the joiners have completed a job the electricians follow. Tony Tigger Peacock, one of the electricians from R&B Electrical & Renewables, was fitting sockets into and above the units completed last week by local joiner Ian Cargill in the small kitchen/utility in the east range.