The next step for Mingary

So things are changing at Mingary now that the inside is 99% there, we (Chris and Holly) have moved into our office and had the wonderful opportunity to show Jon around. We invited Jon and his wife Gill to come and visit the castle now that most of the furniture is in place, unbelievably this was the first time Gill had seen the castle since the restoration work had got underway! They were accompanied by fellow walker Paul after a stroll East of the castle. Jon is hoping to write up a short booklet about the walk and its interesting historic points.
We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to Jon for the amazing work he has done on the blog as it is now time for him to pass over the reins to us. We just hope we do him proud as his are big boots to fill.

The castle is now equipped with furniture that has been sourced from auction houses and other bits that have been reappointed from other parts of the estate. These two chairs are antiques that have been recovered in a lovely blue tartan.

These plates and cake stands are a particular favourite of Holly's and she can't wait for guest to relax in the lounge with afternoon tea and enjoy them too. Below is some of the hand thrown pottery to be used for breakfast.

With the inside coming along, as with all building projects, the outside is in need of some tidying up. We have started the long job of hand picking all the stones out of the lawn and reseeding it. It may be painstaking but it really is making a difference and we will be telling all the guests about our beautiful lawn. We have been keeping our eyes peeled for treasures but the only thing found so far is on of Sophie's the site dogs bones.

The perks to the being outside is you get to witness some of the best sunsets we have ever seen; our guests are going to be spoilt. This one looks like we are on a Greek island. (although the 5 layers we were wearing might have said different)

And here someone is holding a torch up from behind Ormsaigbeg........its a pretty good life!

The not so calm, before the storm.....

With Jon away Chris and I (Holly) had the opportunity to go and see the progress made on site this week. Having been messaged by friends and family warning us of nasty Abigail, who is apparently going to huff and puff and blow our house down, we headed to site to snap some pictures early before she got too bad.

Even by then Abigail was starting to show her presence and the team working on the sea defences were starting to pack down for the day so that they were safe and away from the worst of it.

Though up in the garden there was no rest for Damien who was busy finishing the final wall to complete the garden on the west side. He is about a 3rd of the way across now so by next week we will hopefully see the completed wall.

It was a relief to get inside away from the wind, the warmth that welcomed us now all the radiators and underfloor heating are working was a treat. Mark and Martin have been working on this final wall of the dining room and we think the cupboards look great and can't wait to properly unpack the crockery into its new home.

The green breakfast service and white dinner service have all been hand made; continuing the great craftsmanship of this whole project.

Up stairs in the sitting room another rooms panelling is finished and we are just waiting for the mantle piece until this whole room is complete.

Sadly there is no sign of Sandra this week, just her sewing machine, she has finished the fabric panelling in the second bedroom but has gone home until they are ready for her to hang the curtains.

When we got to the top floor the crashing sea below kept drawing the eye. We couldn't help imagining sitting in one of the windows, with a cup of tea watching the Raasay ferry bounce back and forth to Tobermory.

The Tides

It was a bit of a surprise this morning to find building contractor Mark Rutherford Thompson consulting a set of tide tables. I assumed this related to his taking a boat out this coming weekend but....

....the real reason is that the tides are vitally affecting progress on the sea wall below the castle. For the last week the high spring tides have left much of the face clear during the working day, so the team has been able to get on with the huge job of pouring the concrete, but next week the tides will be up during the day, making life much more difficult.

Pouring the concrete has been a massive undertaking. Since no ready-mix truck could possibly get down onto the beach, some 28 cubic metres, weighing around 50 tonnes, of a special seawater-resistant mix has been hand made in the working area in front of the castle in a big pan mixer, loaded into a container and brought down on a front loader, to be shovelled behind the shuttering. On Tuesday, at the height of their efforts, the sea came in on an unusually high 5.1 metre tide, and almost wrecked a day's work. To make matters worse, we've had some high winds this week which brought the tide over the top of the concrete face, but the fact that the concrete is quick-setting meant that no damage occurred.

There's a great deal still to be done, as the new wall will slopes upwards and inwards to cover the rest of the dolerite face. At the moment the wall is 2 metres high at its western end, and only a few centimetres at the eastern as the rock platform slopes upwards at that end. The the whole thing has to be hidden behind a layer of local rock.

While the joiners have been busy helping with the shuttering, they've also been hard at work in the north range. This section of panelling for the area over the inside of the dining room door arrived too small, leaving a missing strip on the right, but Martin Chandler managed to fit a length of oak which, once it's oiled, will blend in perfectly.

Adrian Eyles and Chris Manger of Dickinsons Antiques of Gargrave, Yorkshire have been working on the banisters, putting in the spindles, so one section of the main stairway is now compete - and very good it looks.

Not everything is going so well. This picture shows the door in the breakfast breakfast room which  leads through to one of the two western garderobes....

....where there is an ingress of water through the ceiling. On the whole, the work done on the outside of the castle seems to have made it reasonably watertight, but there are bound to be places where the persistent, at time horizontal Ardnamurchan rain will find its way in, and they will be dealt with.

More of the furniture has been arriving, and it has gone into temporary store on the Estate, but the crockery is being stored where it belongs in the kitchen. Its arrival makes one realise how close the castle now is to opening - which is still scheduled for Christmas.

Websites and Logos

Having spent our (Chris and Holly) first month working for Mingary Castle swatting up on castle history, the project so far and planning how to enable Mingary to support its self going forward we finally have something to show for our efforts.........

This is the new logo for Mingary Castle. As you will see it contains the local white tailed eagle
 and 'In hope I byde' from the crest of the MacIains. We are looking forward to getting cracking now on ordering the Standard to be flown over the Castle.

Now live the new mingarycastle.com (mingarycastle.co.uk) website will become the direct booking website for the Castle, for now it is ready for interested people to sign up for a newsletter so they can keep up to date with opening dates, prices and what we have to offer.

When the renovation work is complete the Castle will open its doors as both an exclusive 5 bedroom fully catered venue for holidays, weddings and events plus an amazing B&B! Not only does this allow people to enjoy the stunning workmanship and furnishing that have gone into this project, but it forms an important phase of the Trusts funding that will help to pay for the restoration and up keep of the Castle.

Managers Appointed

It was great this morning to walk down to the castle in the company of these wonderful young people, Holly and Chris Bull, who have been appointed to manage Mingary Castle once it's open. They come from the sort of varied commercial background which makes them perfect for the job of marketing this venture, and for giving a warm welcome to the many guests who will be coming to enjoy both the castle's superb facilities and this lovely area.

As always, the site was buzzing with activity. The cheerful face on the left is John Forsyth, the scaffolder who built the amazing steel structure which has enveloped this place for almost two years -  he's seen here with Ashley Thompson's Chris Dickinson.  John is here to take the bulk of the remaining scaffolding down....

....so, for example, the west and south walls are being revealed in their full glory for the first time.  But, as always seems to happen....

....as something comes down in one place it seems to pop up elsewhere.  Next week the harling of the interior walls in the courtyard begins, so John has erected scaffolding to provide access for the plasterers.

Work on the interiors is concentrated in the north range. The floor tiling is going down in the two main bathrooms - picture shows 'H' working on the attic bathroom - while....

....joiner Martin Theaker, left, has started on the long task of boxing in the exposed beams in the sitting room on the first floor, using oak panels to match the wall panelling.  It's an intricate job: each section requires the fixing of no less than six lengths of oak. They are all numbered as they have to match perfectly, and there is no room for mistakes as the oak cannot be repaired or filled.  Helping him is Sam Chandler, whom we've seen before when he worked with his father, Martin Chandler, building the roofs.

On the attic level, the walls are receiving their top coat. They'll lose none of their brightness as the colour being used is white with just a touch of ochre, which adds a bit of warmth to the light. The three lads working here are all from the Leeds area - from left, Dominic Taylor, Ryan Hatch and Andrew Green. They are all from Mark Galley Decorators Ltd, and we'll be seeing quite a lot of them over the next few weeks.