Delgatie Castle Hire my home

HIRE MY HOME

@Delgatie

The fabulous 11th Century

Delgatie Castle in

Aberdeenshire is lovingly looked after by Joan Johnson, her daughter Melanie and a dedicated team of family, staff and volunteers.

Joan and Melanie have lived in Delgatie for nearly 40 years. Joan was Captain John Hay’s estate manager and she has continued as Trustee, along with Melanie, after Captain Hay’s death in 1997.

Both are very passionate about the Castle; looking after it and honouring Captain Hay’s memory is a labour of love. “It consumes your life” said Joan, who had made a promise to Captain Hay before he died. As she explains: “he did me the honour of asking me if I would shuffle on when he shuffled off, and I’m doing that”. When Melanie saw the Channel 4 Programme Hire my Home on Facebook looking for ‘failing holiday lets’ to apply for their homes to be transformed by a leading designer, she convinced her Mum to apply. Joan applied in early 2020 hoping that the programme might be tempted by a Scottish Castle. By Aug 2020 they knew they had been successful.

The Hire my Home team came in August to do the early survey and then arrived back at Delgatie in October for the makeover, which took two weeks.

The programme has two leading designers who go up against each other with two properties from the same area and have to transform them. The one that increases their bookings potential wins.

Anna Campbell-Jones convinced fellow designer Zeena Shah that she should take on Delgatie’s makeover as she had worked on a Castle before. Zeena went on to make over River Cottage, 5 miles away from Delgatie.

Joan and Melanie provided a £2000 budget and they were given the opportunity to sit down with Anna to discuss her design vision. The only thing Joan said she wouldn’t want them to do was paint the stone wall in the sitting room, but apart from that she gave them a free rein.

Joan and Melanie managed a sneaky look at the colour right at the beginning when they were asked for their permission to remove the bookshelves from the sitting room windows but after that they saw nothing until the final reveal. Anna focused on three key areas, the entrance, the lounge and the bedroom. She looked for her inspiration around the Castle as she wanted to bring more character into the rooms and give the sense of ‘playing at living in a Castle, even if just for a weekend’.

Anna found original delft tiles in one of the bedrooms and they inspired her to have tiles commissioned for the apartment bedroom.

Anna felt Delgatie hadn’t capitalised on the fact they were giving the opportunity to stay in a Castle. The interior decoration didn’t give any of that magic and Anna wanted to deliver a balance between practicality, heritage and antique feeling.

Bold new colour schemes were introduced to the rooms, along with wonderful accessories and furniture placement to make the most of the space.

When Joan and Melanie were eventually shown round the finished rooms they were both completely overwhelmed. They thought it was such a transformation it was absolutely amazing. Joan was delighted when she saw the hand painted tiles in the bedroom which depicted Delgatie and all the wildlife from the grounds. Lifestyle MAG

“Oh Anna you are so inspirational” said Joan. “Anna has done something new, but the way she has used what was here originally and kept the spirit of the place, is wonderful” said Melanie.

Anna and Delgatie won the programme contest as, when asked, the uplift in holidaymakers who would now come and stay at Delgatie was the highest.

All the time the team were working at Delgatie they were shown good Scottish hospitality by Joan who provided coffee and amazing cakes on tap. Lasting friendships have been made. Joan is continuing on the good work and said she hopes she can do justice to the rest of the rooms. With Joan’s dedication and the help of the amazing family and volunteers at Delgatie, there’s no doubt. Melanie said “This never happens to people like us” I’m sure you’ll agree they deserve every bit of it. If you would like to see the whole

programmes go to Channel 4 https://www. channel4.com/programmes/hire-my-home/ episode-guide/

If you would like to go to Delgatie and stay or just visit for some coffee and cake:- www.facebook.com/DelgatieCastle

T: 01888 563479

E: joan@delgatiecastle.com

At Watergaw Ceramics we are so excited to be welcoming you back to the pottery on Monday 26th April 2021 at 11am with all the necessary Covid precautions in place.

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