You no longer have to be royal to own a castle — here's proof
Courtesy of Highlands Castle, Stef Burgon
- For centuries, castles have been considered the go-to living situation for royalty.
- But nowadays, you don't have to be royal to buy a castle. You also don't have to come from money.
- From parents to entrepreneurs, these stories show royals no longer monopolize the castle market.
For thousands of years, the typical castle owner wasn't just rich — they were royal.
That's still half true. Take the British royals as an example. As of 2024, their real-estate portfolio still includes multiple castles across the UK, from Windsor Castle and Hillsborough Castle to Balmoral, widely considered the late Queen Elizabeth II's favorite royal residence.
But the castle market has evolved. Here are five castles owned by young couples, entrepreneurs, and families to prove that you don't have to be a king or queen to have a property fit for royalty. Sometimes, you just need to know how to dream big.
Courtesy of Highlands Castle
In the late 1970s, John Lavender II told his 3-year-old son Jason that he'd build him a castle one day.
He told BI he made his son the promise when he was newly divorced and figuring out his next steps.
Lavender said he was living in shared accommodation after his marriage ended, which he knew wasn't the right "environment" to raise a child.
"I made the promise, and I said I'm going to show my son that if I speak words to him, I'll follow through no matter what it takes," he added.
Lavender made good on his word threefold. In 1982, he bought land with epic views of the Adirondack Mountains and built not one but three mini castles on top of it with little help. He designed each structure himself despite not having a background in architecture or construction.
Once completed, Lavender kept the castles as a family home for nearly 30 years. But after he suffered an accident in 2010, he and his wife, Yvonne, decided to open their castles to guests.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lavender said bookings peaked, which was a pleasant surprise. At the start of the outbreak in the US, he initially thought, "Well, there goes all the bookings."
"It was just the opposite," Lavender said. "Everybody wanted to go to a safe place where they felt they could spend time with their family."
Nowadays, Lavender and his wife still accept bookings at Highlands, where they live full-time.
He also said they have no plans to leave: "I'll be planted here."
Courtesy of Compass
In the early 2000s, Christopher Mark bought a property in Woodstock, Connecticut, which he transformed into a 9-bedroom, Gothic-inspired castle, aptly dubbed Chris Mark Castle.
Mark, a descendant of a steel tycoon, moved into the property with his children in 2010. In 2022, his daughter Christina spoke to BI's Amanda Goh about growing up in the castle.
"My sister and I, when we were younger, we would dress up like princesses, and he just wanted our dream to come true," she said, referring to her father.
She said Chris Mark Castle was inspired by the family's ancestors' similar properties in Ireland.
"We wanted to keep the idea going in our generation now too," she said.
Over the years, the castle has hit the market several times. Four years after it was completed, the owner listed the castle for $45 million before cutting the price and ultimately taking it off the market.
According to the castle's Zillow history, it's been listed several times at various price points since then but is now back on the market through Compass Real Estate for $29 million.
The sales listing agent, John Pizzi, told BI that Christopher Mark still resides in the castle. Meanwhile, Christina still runs a TikTok account showing viewers what life in the castle is like.
Her latest video, shared on January 20, gives viewers a sneak peek at what it's like to stay in the castle during the summer.
Airbnb/Kilmartin Castle
In 2014, Stef Burgon and Simon Hunt went on a road trip in Scotland that changed the direction of their lives. They lived and worked in Dubai but were struck by the untapped potential in Scotland.
"We traveled around Scotland looking for a castle to stay in, and we stayed in a couple, and it was just disappointing," Hunt said. "It's so disappointing when it looks like a castle from the outside, and then you get inside, and it's not a castle anymore."
Shortly after, they came across a listing in the Daily Mail for a £375,000, or about $476,000, castle on the west coast of Scotland. After jumping on a plane to see it, the couple offered £331,780, or about $421,225, for the property originally built in 1550.
Burgon and Hunt eventually quit their jobs in Dubai and moved into the castle, where they spent £225,000, or about $285,656, on years of repairs and renovations. They didn't have hospitality backgrounds but always planned to share the historic property with guests.
Though the process had its challenges, they said it was ultimately worth it. After 2021, they moved to a nearby cottage and started listing Kilmartin Castle exclusively as a guesthouse. They are now taking bookings as far ahead as 2026 and said the rental strategy has allowed them to dedicate time to other projects, such as starting a lime-paint company called House of Lime.
Guests staying at the five-bedroom castle can enjoy all it offers, including the wild swimming pool, vegetable gardens, and locally sourced "Michelin star-style food" the in-house chef, William Hammer, serves in a glass house steps away from the castle.
Since the opening of Kilmartin Castle, the site has welcomed retreats and weddings; the couple also plans to host an artist residency program in 2025. Their castle was also included in The New York Times' 52 Places to Go article in 2023.
"We've been doing this job for five years now, and I've never felt more financially secure. And I used to have an actual job, or we both did, but you never get a day off," Hunt said.
"When you're working for yourself, you don't mind at all," Burgon added.
Courtesy of The Travel Chapter
Bruce Walker told BI in 2022 that he grew up in the historic region of Ayrshire in Scotland. However, he lived and worked in Hong Kong for nearly thirty years.
In 2000, he returned to the UK with his family and bought a derelict castle in Ayrshire in deep need of TLC. They thought it would be "good fun" to renovate and share it with guests, he said.
But it was a big project.
"The roof and the floors and everything had fallen in," Walker said. "The building itself was the remains of a 14th-century castle, a 17th-century castle, and a Victorian make-around."
Renovations of the castle began in 2013 and took roughly five years to complete. Over those years, Walker said the project cost £1.3 million, or about $1.6 million — more than he'd anticipated.
He also had to get permission from Historic Scotland to proceed with the renovations. When the organization said yes, Walker was given the green light to transform it into a "fantasy castle" where guests can reconnect with nature in the "middle of the countryside."
The castle, available to rent on Holiday Cottages, is designed to be a perfect retreat for people of all ages. Three of the house's four double bedrooms are in the castle turrets. The other turret houses an infrared sauna, and there's also a hot tub outside.
The historic structure's distinct pale-pink color adds to the castle's fantasy. According to Walker, the color comes from a lime-wash paint that enhances the natural tones of the sandstone exterior.
He also said that the color signified nobility among the Picts, an ancient group living in Scotland during the Middle Ages.
Ludovica Sannazzaro Natta
Ludovica Sannazzaro Natta is a 22-year-old who's lived in a nearly 900-year-old castle in Northern Italy since she was 4.
To say the property is palatial would be an understatement — in 2021, BI's Lauren Edmonds reported that it's over 100,00 square feet and has 45 rooms. It also houses a 269,097-square-foot garden and historical archives dating back to the 11th century.
Sannazzaro Natta told BI's Lindsay Dodgson that the castle has been her family's home for 28 generations. Sannazzaro Natta isn't royal but has aristocratic ties.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sannazzaro Natta — who was studying at a US university — returned to Italy and began documenting her family's living situation on TikTok.
Each video provides a window into the castle's history, unique features, and details about Sannazzaro Natta's family background.
Her videos blew up, and now her TikTok account has over 1.7 million followers. Her family initially questioned her TikToks, but she said they now support her and even help her make her videos.
Sannazzaro Natta also said life in a castle has made her who she is.
"I appreciate history, I appreciate culture a lot more, and it made me very aware of how time changed everything," she said. And while her living situation is unique, she's proud of it.
"Yes, it's a castle, but it's my home," Sannazzaro Natta said.
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