The Mingary Castle restoration blog was written by Jon Haylett, who lives in the local village of Kilchoan. Now that restoration is almost complete Holly and Chris Bull will take over to report on bringing the Castle back to life.

Monday 30 May 2016

We made it! - Sunshine and visitors at Mingary!

Apologise to those that follow this blog we have been working away to do the finishing touches to this wonderful project and therefore been a little tardy at putting up posts. But we have done it! and in celebration The Mingary Castle Preservation and Restoration Trust hosted two completion events this weekend. WOW what a weekend! What weather! There are many wonderful places in the world but I challenge anyone to say there is a more beautiful place than the west coast on a sunny day.
On Saturday we hosted a dinner for 70 guests including some of the builders who are the key to this exquisite castle. It is their talent and passion for the project that has made this a truly breath taking building. Over the weekend more than 300 people went round the property and time and time again we blown away by the skill of the craftsmanship that has brought Mingary back to life.
They don't scrub up to badly either, here is JP, in his amazing Vivienne Westwood suit, and Damien finding out their medieval names. Damien has become such a local he even wore a kilt.
This blog that Jon has beautiful compiled and the book we are in the process of finishing are really here to highlight that without the men and women (mostly from Yorkshire) projects like Mingary Castle would not be possible. It is key that in the future that people remember their names and skills as it is them who have taken this crumbling ruin and put it back together in under 3 years!
You may be wondering where we managed to squeeze all these people into, well luckily we hired a marquee and spent the evening looking at the castle while eating our delicious dinner.
The castle looks slightly different having a marquee outside rather than the builders caravan! 
Before we were piped into dinner Graham, who had kindly learnt Mingary Castle from the battlements, the sound of the pipes in the courtyard really brought the place to life. The piece of music by Captin J.R.C Peteison that we were given to the castle by the McCain family who visited us recently after they had managed to track it down.
Before the guests went home we set off some fireworks from the battlements. Our brilliant photographer managed to catch this moment!






2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the completion of the restoration and the first paying guests. It's great to have a party to properly launch the castle into a 21st century career and to celebrate your great achievement.

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  2. My invite must have been lost in post , I donate monthly. Glad to see castle fully restored

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