Just back from an awesome mini-break with DH. It is our anniversary on Tuesday, so last Friday night (Friday the 13th, I know!) we spent the night on the grounds of a Castle. Larnach Castle is a stately home that belonged to an Australian banking magnate named John Larnach. It was built at the time Dunedin was really just a frontier outpost, and everything had to be brought by ship. But the house is quite luxurious, full of rococo plasterwork and amazing inlaid wood paneling.
The Larnach’s story is rather tragic. John was married three times and had six children. The first two wives died, and the third, who was about half Larnach’s age, ended up having an affair with his eldest son, Douglas. Larnach committed suicide as a result and the aftermath tore the family apart. Their beautiful estate had to be sold. It fell into disrepair after the war, until a woman named Margaret Barker bought the property and then started the long process of restoration. Now it is fantastic jewel, surrounded by beautiful gardens.
You don’t get to sleep in the Castle itself, but rather in a lodge with fourteen different themed rooms. We stayed in the Victorian Room.
That bed was really enormous! The suite had an absolutely stunning view of the Southern ocean, and in the morning we were treated to the most sublime sunrise I have even seen.
My favorite part of the experience had to be dinner. Normally there are quite a few people staying at the Lodge, but at this time of year it is not crowded. DH and I were the only guests for dinner, so they set us up in the Library of the main house. We were able to eat a lovely, Scottish-themed meal surrounded by all those elegant reminders of life from an earlier time. I really felt like a storybook character.
* * * *
What I am reading: Edgar Rice Burroughs/Warlords of Mars
What I am listening to: Gordon Lightfoot/The United Artist Years
June 16, 2008 at 5:05 am
Warlord of Mars?
One of my all-time faves
I wish I had even 1% of the talent of ERB
June 16, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I am not so sure I like it at this point, but I am only about fifty pages in. I downloaded it from manybooks.net, and I have four others to read as well. But the guy had a great imagination, no doubt about it.
June 17, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Sounds like a fabulous mini vacation. I love the pictures of the castle!
June 17, 2008 at 4:29 pm
That’s the third book in the series. You should really start with A Princess of Mars which introduces everything.
A couple things to keep in mind as read:
A) This was written almost 100 years ago.
B) It was written as a serial in a magazine…targeted for boys/young men.
C) There really wasn’t anything like this before this came out.
Anyways I think you can get the other books off of Google Books…not sure it will be the right format for your reader.
June 18, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Google books? Hah! You must be joking… 🙂
May 13, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Hi
The castle was built by William James Mudie Larnach, not John.
Cheers
Brad Larnach
May 13, 2010 at 5:12 pm
Thanks for the correction! Larnach Castle is one of my favorite places to visit.
March 10, 2012 at 11:44 am
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