A Brief Compendium of Captivating Fairytale Grottos

You know how there’s always one room at a party where the action is really going down? The Greeks and Romans saw grottos as a place for sensual, Dionysian desires to unfold; the stage of Venus, goddess of love. In contrast, these mystical chambers also became shrine-like places of feverish religious worship for Roman Catholics.…

In Defence of Clutter: The American Castle of a Renaissance Hoarder

Forget the great and gaudy Hearst Castle – why don’t they talk about Fonthill Castle? Now that’s a house worth seeing. Some might call him America’s first hoarder, but for any aspiring collector or lover of eclectic arts, Pennsylvania’s most underrated treasure is an astonishing visual treat at every turn, telling the story of a…

Who Will Rescue the Ruins of This French Fairytale Chateau?

“STOP!” I howled from the passenger seat of the car as it sped past the padlocked gates in the darkness of the old town square. “You have to go back– I saw something!” We’d left Paris that evening for the long weekend and stopped for dinner in the little commune of Fontenay-Trésigny, thirty minutes from the city. As…

Saving Sobański Palace

We thought we knew how the story would end. After all, we’ve seen our fair share of crumbling castles here at Messy Nessy Chic – chateaux holding on for dear life in the final hours of their swan song, left to the whims of nature and urbex explorers. Restoring them is a near anachronistic quest,…

A Dozen Celebrity Digs That Remind us to Go Big or Go Home

As long as folks have had money, they’ve had the ability to realise interior designs that most of us can only dream about – to breathe new life into ancient Italian villas, or hole up in a French seaside fortress; to live out their days in a storybook windmill, or commission a veritable spaceship. Our…

5 Fairytale Sleepovers in Case You Don’t Win that Night at Downton Abbey

It’s finally happening. Highclere Castle, aka the legendary English estate that’s hosted Downton Abbey, is opening up its gilded doors for a once-in-a-lifetime slumber party. In partnership with Airbnb, the castle will welcome two lucky guests to live out the wildly popular TV drama. Reservation opportunities go live on October 1st at 12PM BST, and…

7 Things You May Not Know About Hearst Castle

They said it was where California met the world. Where Egyptian antiquities mingled with cast sculptures by Bernini, and the gaze of medieval eyes met those of Hollywood’s elite. Today, we’re traveling into the nooks and crannies of La Cuesta Encantada – The Enchanted Hill. 1. Its Architect Was a Woman Where to begin with…

The Last Eccentrics of the English Estate

Step inside Three of England’s most Unconventional Grand Homes… Time Capsule of a Taxidermy Hoarder They call Calke Abbey the “un-stately” home– rooms filled with animal heads kept in dusty glass cases, fading furnishings, cobwebs and walls of peeling paintwork. In lieu of restoring the house to its former glory, the English National Trust chose to leave…

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Scotland’s Sleeping Castle

She’s been asleep for over half a century. Cocooned by a forest, half swallowed by nature’s encroaching fingers. A forgotten castle in the Scottish Highlands, waiting for its story to continue or find an ending. Such places do exist, you just have to be curious enough to find them. If you’ve read my road trip guide to Scotland, you’ll know that…

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The Not-So-Fairytale Castle of New York

Bannerman’s Castle might look like a medieval European storybook setting, but these American ruins have seen their fair share of disaster. The only real occupants of the castle were weapons of war and temperamental explosives, housed in this elaborate military surplus warehouse built in 1901. Just 50 miles North from New York City, located on…