March 2006

Craig y Nos Castle Newsletter 03 - March 2006

This is our third Craig y Nos Castle Newsletter. If you require a copy of our January & February 2006 Newsletters, let us know and we will post a copy to you. We intend to publish these newsletters every month, to maintain a monthly diary of the building works and improvements and other news about Craig y Nos. Hopefully it will be of interest to you, as someone on our database of enquirers and past visitors. Each newsletter will also carry news on offers and events over the next one to two months. If you would prefer not to receive this newsletter, simply send back the mailing marked “return to sender - unwanted mail”, and we will take you off our mailing list. You can also keep up to date with developments and forthcoming events on our website, www.craigynoscastle.com.

1. Sauna / Jacuzzi and Health Spa - updateLast month I said we were looking for quotes for the small glass conservatory to go in front of the Aviary. This month I can report the steel and glass conservatory is finally on order, (after three firms declined the job as being a bit beyond them). The steel framework will cost around £18,000 and the Glass around £20,000. We should have some pictures of the steel frame going up next month!

Meanwhile the tiles have been chosen for the sauna and Jacuzzi area and for the bathrooms. There will be separate changing rooms and bathrooms for boys and girls, with a glass shower (above left) between the Jacuzzi and Sauna so you can have a cool-down rinse when moving from the Jacuzzi to the Sauna or from the Sauna to Jacuzzi. Non-slip flooring tiles will be used throughout (shown right).

2) Blue Bar (Cellar Bar) refurbishmentJust give it a lick of paint, I said, to make it ready for a small training meeting being run by a Hypnosis School. That was a month ago. First we found the ceiling was too damaged to simply repaint. So we thought of skimming it with plaster then painting it. Next we considered affixing plaster board to the ceiling and then skimming it. Finally we decided to do a proper job and take the old lathe and plaster down and completely redo the ceiling. This would also enable us to sound-proof it properly so noise from parties in the Blue Bar would not be heard in the Billiard Room and Music room above.

When finished, the Blue Bar will become the ‘Cellar Bar’. It will be a much smarter room suitable for small dinners, buffets, parties, and it already has bookings for eight small training seminars. 3) Floor Joists replaced in function room above Blue Bar.Having taken the ceiling down in the Blue Bar we found dry rot in the ceiling joists (shown right). The Blue Bar ceiling joists are also the floor joists for the main function room.

We decided to replace the rotten floor joists rather than risk, in a few years time, the floor caving in during an important function. These works have therefore taken the function room out of commission for two weeks.

Fortunately we have very few bookings in March so this is the ideal month to get such a major job as this done. Working in the main function room, Steve (right) saws joists to fit while above, Steve and Anthony slide the new joists into position. 4. Can we have a hole in the wall, Ollie?So asked the catering staff of Oliver, our resident Stone Mason. While we had the floor up in the main function room, it made sense to get this messy job done at the same time. We had to move the carvery and furniture anyway, so a small serving hatch between the kitchens and the carvery seemed like a good idea. The new serving hatch will be here.

We will now be able to pass food direct from the kitchens to the Carvery. This is safer from a Health & Safety perspective as we won’t need to carry hot serving dishes to the carvery from the kitchens, past guests standing in the Patti Bar and function room. 5. Long-term roof works to Music RoomFor some time we have had water stains appearing on the internal walls of the music room. Though the main part of the roof to the music room (right) was sound, being a reasonably recent fibreglass replacement by previous owners, there are gulleys into which the water drains from the roof. These were leaking, as was the leadwork between the parapets (see picture below) and the top of the wall. So we have had to remove all the parapets in this section in order to replace the lead and we have repaired the gulleys.

You will see there are rails between the parapets (left). These are not original and had been put in by the hospital some 60 years ago when the stone latticework in-between became unstable. We found some of the original latticework in pieces buried under the grass when we levelled the ground for the new patio last year. At the time we wondered what the pieces belonged to and put them to one side. We have since been given some old photos and prints of this side of the castle as it was 100 years ago. These will enable us to restore all the parapets and latticework in-between to their original state. Oliver our Stone Mason says this highly intricate work will take him several months in the summer.



Events Diary for MarchIn March we’ve some ghostly weekends devoted to ghostly events, hauntings, ghost hunting, ghost tours, paranormal investigations. The Ghostly Weekend Breaks are on:Sat 11th March – Evening Ghost Tours Fri 17th March - Evening Ghost Tours Sat 18th March – Day & Eve Ghost Tours & All Night InvestigationFri 24th March - Eve Ghost Tours 6pm-9pm & All Night Investigation

Sunday 26th March: Mothers Day Carvery. £11.95 per head for three courses. Please book in advance to be sure of a place.Friday 31st March: Giant Ghost Party: Buffet, mini ghost tour with séance, ghost party and live music. 6.30 pm till late. Tickets £15.00. To book, call 01639 730205. B&B also available. See www.craigynoscastle.com for more details.