'I booked a last-minute flight and bought a castle'

"Everything looked similar it would autumn apart," says Samantha Kane of her archetypal viewing of cliff-top Carbisdale Castle.

There was a occupation with h2o seeping into parts of the state house, and immoderate of the rooms were successful a superior authorities of disrepair.

When the London-based barrister made her viewing past year, the Highland spot had been placed connected the marketplace for the 3rd clip successful six years.

Significant attraction costs, oregon possibly tales of the castle being haunted by a ghostly achromatic lady, appeared to person frightened disconnected immoderate imaginable buyers.

But the lawyer, contiguous known arsenic Lady Samantha Kane of Carbisdale Castle, was intrigued.

She says: "I had heard it had been sold, but past the merchantability fell done and it was backmost connected the market.

"I thought I should astatine slightest spell and spot it.

"So I took a last-minute formation to Inverness and made my archetypal travel to that acold northbound successful the Highlands."

She added: "I arrived astatine Carbisdale Castle and it was truthful atmospheric. It's a magnificent building.

"When they opened the doorway and I went successful determination were grandiose rooms, but each sadly had gone to ruin. There was a batch of ingress of water.

"But I thought idiosyncratic ought to prevention this iconic gathering and landmark for aboriginal generations. I instantly made an connection unconditionally and I said: 'I indispensable bargain this castle'."

Lady Carbisdale's involvement successful the spot adjacent Ardgay, successful Sutherland, began erstwhile she archetypal learned of its history.

For 60 years from 1945 the castle was a younker hostel, but during World War Two it had served arsenic a sanctuary for members of the Norwegian royal household aft Nazi Germany's penetration of Norway.

At the extremity of the war, Carbisdale hosted the signing of an statement that required Russian troops, who had captured Norwegian villages portion warring German soldiers, to peacefully retreat from Norway.

And past determination was the castle's archetypal resident, Mary Caroline Blair. Lady Carbisdale was fascinated by her story.

In Victorian London, the Oxford-born Army captain's woman recovered herself astatine the centre of a high-society scandal.

She was having an matter with George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, a joined antheral and the 3rd Duke of Sutherland.

The duke's household owned immense swathes of onshore successful the Highlands and played a portion successful Sutherland's notorious Clearances which saw families moved, often forcibly, disconnected onshore to marque mode for large-scale farming.

A bitter household feud ensued erstwhile Mary Caroline became the duke's 2nd woman conscionable months aft the decease of his archetypal wife. Mary Caroline's ain hubby had earlier died successful a shooting accident.

The caller duchess' in-laws were unhappy astatine however rapidly the matrimony had happened.

Queen Victoria, a adjacent person of the duke's archetypal wife, was among those who had appealed to the duke to hold longer earlier remarrying.

Though her ceremonial rubric was the Duchess of Sutherland, Mary Caroline was disparagingly nicknamed Duchess Blair.

Tensions escalated erstwhile the duke himself died and the duchess' inheritance was contested by her stepson.

She was aboriginal jailed for six weeks successful London's Holloway Prison aft being accused of destroying documents related to the will.

The quality was yet settled, with the Duke of Sutherland's household agreeing to physique the duchess a caller location - provided it was connected a tract extracurricular the boundaries of the family's Sutherland Estate.

The duchess selected a hillside crippled adjacent to - and disposable from - the estate.

Its timepiece operation was built with lone 3 faces, with the broadside facing Sutherland Estate blank due to the fact that the duchess did not privation to springiness her erstwhile in-laws the clip of day.

The architectural details would pb to Carbisdale becoming known arsenic the Castle of Spite.

Lady Carbisdale says: "This was a pistillate who built a castle successful the Victorian era, a clip erstwhile women didn't person galore rights.

"That touched a chord with maine due to the fact that successful my beingness I person faced discrimination, that has driven maine to effort my hardest to win - to beryllium to the satellite that no-one tin bring maine down."

In the twelvemonth since her purchase, large renovations person started astatine the castle and Lady Carbisdale has further plans.

The spot is her backstage residence, but she proposes opening up parts arsenic a depository telling the communicative of the castle and the section area, and hopes to usage different areas for "quality tourism".

She besides plans for a distillery and 12 eco-tourism huts powered by renewable vigor schemes. The projects would enactment section jobs.

Lady Carbisdale's different ideas see inviting Norway's royal household to spot wherever their ancestors were kept harmless successful wartime.

And what of the castle's ghost?

"Personally, I deliberation it's Duchess Blair," says Lady Carbisdale, suggesting that unexplained sounds successful undeveloped parts of the spot could beryllium caused by the nonmigratory spook.