6 ms·

Balintore Castle Restoration Project

49 points by kulesh 6y ago

sambeau 6y ago
Lovely to see David and his castle on here.
- meheleventyone 6y ago
  It’s a little over ten years since I last saw him and I still remember fondly a few parties at the castle. Also stories of his great escape from our work car park!
  - MrBalintore 6y ago
    The escape from the work car park still haunts my nightmares. :-) I was doing some late night coding, only to find at 2AM that my car was trapped. Yup, not familiar with coders' strange hours, the temporary works car park had been totally locked up. The only escape route was to drive across the building site for a new casino in central Dundee. To saw the journey was an obstacle course is a complete understatement. Eventually, at 4AM I got a Rastafarian to unhook the metal fencing, so I could leave the far end of the building site. I got to bed at 6AM!
    - lvturner 6y ago
      I wish I had saved the email that followed! Been following your castle progress from afar, always an interesting read!
sys_64738 6y ago
He's a Microsoft user as he says he'll need to install windows.
- MrBalintore 6y ago
  Ironically, I am so not a fan of Microsoft Windows, but as a software developer I have to find an accommodation. You are still on point about installing windows. This is one of the major expenses of restoring a building: bespoke high precision carpentry ain't cheap.
raesene9 6y ago
fixer-upper castles come onto the market reasonably regularly in Scotland, and they're not (depending on your property market expectations) even that expensive. One example that seems to be available at the moment. https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds200210 https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds200210
- rexreed 6y ago
  More details on that property. That property price was just for the ruined castle. The whole property is over 1.2M GBP. https://www.captivatinghouses.com/2020/11/24/15th-century-piteadie-castle-and-house-for-sale-in-fife-scotland/ https://www.captivatinghouses.com/2020/11/24/15th-century-pi...
- stevesimmons 6y ago
  Not a small undertaking! Rather than spending £225k on that ruined castle, why not get together a few well-off friends and together spend £1,200,000 on the castle plus the adjoining manor house and three bedroom cottage [1]. You'll have all the benefit of looking at the ruined castle, and plenty of reasons to delay the expensive and difficult part, of rebuilding it. [1] https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds190137 https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds190137
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
natmaka 6y ago
See also Guédelon: https://www.guedelon.fr/en/introduction_75.html https://www.guedelon.fr/en/introduction_75.html
gorkempacaci 6y ago
Balintore Castle is a wonderful place both in architecture and and its surroundings. It's great someone is restoring it with such attention to detail. If you're in scotland it's a good trip, not for only seeing Balintore but for the whole drive and back. I heard they're also hosting via airbnb the few completed rooms.
xmichael0 6y ago
Cool, more photos would be nice.
- MrBalintore 6y ago
  There's a whole slew of photos on the restoration blog: http://balintorecastle.blogspot.com/ http://balintorecastle.blogspot.com/
- kulesh 6y ago
  David’s GoFundMe page got before-and-after pics https://www.gofundme.com/f/restore-the-great-hall-at-balintore-castle https://www.gofundme.com/f/restore-the-great-hall-at-balinto... Some photos from our recent visit here: https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345667075533135872?s=21 https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345667075533135872?s... 360-degree video of the castle grounds https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345371148054372354?s=21 https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345371148054372354?s...

49 points by kulesh 6y ago

sambeau 6y ago

Lovely to see David and his castle on here.

meheleventyone 6y ago
It’s a little over ten years since I last saw him and I still remember fondly a few parties at the castle. Also stories of his great escape from our work car park!
- MrBalintore 6y ago
  The escape from the work car park still haunts my nightmares. :-) I was doing some late night coding, only to find at 2AM that my car was trapped. Yup, not familiar with coders' strange hours, the temporary works car park had been totally locked up. The only escape route was to drive across the building site for a new casino in central Dundee. To saw the journey was an obstacle course is a complete understatement. Eventually, at 4AM I got a Rastafarian to unhook the metal fencing, so I could leave the far end of the building site. I got to bed at 6AM!
  - lvturner 6y ago
    I wish I had saved the email that followed! Been following your castle progress from afar, always an interesting read!

sys_64738 6y ago

He's a Microsoft user as he says he'll need to install windows.

MrBalintore 6y ago
Ironically, I am so not a fan of Microsoft Windows, but as a software developer I have to find an accommodation. You are still on point about installing windows. This is one of the major expenses of restoring a building: bespoke high precision carpentry ain't cheap.

raesene9 6y ago

fixer-upper castles come onto the market reasonably regularly in Scotland, and they're not (depending on your property market expectations) even that expensive. One example that seems to be available at the moment. https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds200210 https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds200210

rexreed 6y ago
More details on that property. That property price was just for the ruined castle. The whole property is over 1.2M GBP. https://www.captivatinghouses.com/2020/11/24/15th-century-piteadie-castle-and-house-for-sale-in-fife-scotland/ https://www.captivatinghouses.com/2020/11/24/15th-century-pi...
stevesimmons 6y ago
Not a small undertaking! Rather than spending £225k on that ruined castle, why not get together a few well-off friends and together spend £1,200,000 on the castle plus the adjoining manor house and three bedroom cottage [1]. You'll have all the benefit of looking at the ruined castle, and plenty of reasons to delay the expensive and difficult part, of rebuilding it. [1] https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds190137 https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbedrseds190137

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

natmaka 6y ago

See also Guédelon: https://www.guedelon.fr/en/introduction_75.html https://www.guedelon.fr/en/introduction_75.html

gorkempacaci 6y ago

Balintore Castle is a wonderful place both in architecture and and its surroundings. It's great someone is restoring it with such attention to detail. If you're in scotland it's a good trip, not for only seeing Balintore but for the whole drive and back. I heard they're also hosting via airbnb the few completed rooms.

xmichael0 6y ago

Cool, more photos would be nice.

MrBalintore 6y ago
There's a whole slew of photos on the restoration blog: http://balintorecastle.blogspot.com/ http://balintorecastle.blogspot.com/
kulesh 6y ago
David’s GoFundMe page got before-and-after pics https://www.gofundme.com/f/restore-the-great-hall-at-balintore-castle https://www.gofundme.com/f/restore-the-great-hall-at-balinto... Some photos from our recent visit here: https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345667075533135872?s=21 https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345667075533135872?s... 360-degree video of the castle grounds https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345371148054372354?s=21 https://twitter.com/stas_kulesh/status/1345371148054372354?s...