Friday, March 29, 2024

Confusing a castle

Confused.com founder puts castle on market for £1.5 million less than she spent on it

 

“Wild haired” Kate Armstrong, the Australian founder of Confused.com, bought the medieval Scottish castle Cassillis House in Ayrshire from the Kennedy clan in 2009 for £3 million. She spent four years and £3.5 million updating and improving it but is now selling it at a loss for just £5 million.

 

Cassillis House
Cassillis House
Kate Armstrong
Kate Armstrong

 

Situated 42 miles from Glasgow, the Category A listed 15,662 square foot castle has been brought into the 21st century and now includes a ballroom, 3 reception rooms, a library, a cinema and 13 bedrooms. The renovation of the 112 room building was tracked and featured in an episode of the BBC documentary Restoration Homes and has been completed to a commercial specification. At the time, Mrs Armstrong commented:

 

“Painting the exterior was an expensive task, we got through hundreds of litres of paint and the scaffolding alone cost £40,000… It has been a labour of love, but I’ve loved every minute of it. Now I have the grand Scottish castle I dreamed of when I was a little girl”.

The grand entrance to the castle
The grand entrance to the castle
One of many impressive reception rooms
One of many impressive reception rooms
There is also a cinema complete with tartan carpeting
There is also a cinema complete with tartan carpeting
The renovation has been completed to a very high standard
The renovation has been completed to a very high standard

 

Also included in the sale price is a 5-bedroomed converted coach house, 4 cottages, 309 acres of land and 1.8 miles of salmon and trout fishing on the River Doon.

 

The selling agent, Evelyn Channing of Savills, commented:

 

“It is on the market for less than what [Mrs Armstrong and her husband] spent on it. She is not asking for all her money back. She is more concerned about making sure the castle is being looked after”.

 

Armstrong shared in a £21 million windfall when Confused.com was sold to The Admiral Group. Cassillis House, however, was certainly not one of her better investments.

 

 

Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here:

     

    The Steeple Times
    The Steeple Times
    We research and background check our articles. If you believe we have made and error in some detail please get in touch, we seek always to write the truth and stand against a press owned by a self selected few. Please help us, we will accept all your likes, subscriptions and anonymous suport. The Editor and his team at the Steeple Times.

    15 COMMENTS

    1. What a wonderful lady.
      As a Kennedy descendent living in Australia I think it was the best thing that someone could afford the restoration and done it. even if she lost money .it is restored hopefully for a few hundred more years.Good on ya Kate

    2. Stay in Australia with your dreams and let the castle belong to Scotland. Historic Scotland can look after the property funded by visitors.
      Kate Armstrong evicted people from the land at casillas house. Back to Australia where you belong. She really is confused.com!!!

      • To “historic Scotland” – what a cruel and vicious comment. If that was how Ms. Armstrong was treated while she was there, it is no wonder that she didn’t stay and live in the castle of her dreams. For YEARS she supplied millions of dollars in revenue for the local economy just simply by hiring local tradesman. She has restored a part of Scottish history that was literally falling down, and yet all you can say is words of hate. By the way, as a new OWNER of the property, she gets to choose who lives there. Why would THAT be difficult to understand? This would be true of any property. Get down off of your cross, someone needs the wood.

      • Hiding behind a name of “historic scotland” is what cowards do…and then throwing out terrible, hurtful comments like that just shows how uneducated you really are! She has put millions of pounds, out of her own pocket into the economy, to restore it to it’s well deserved glory. Something that the Government wasn’t going to do…I really admire you Kate. It took someone from the colonies to fix a castle in Scotland. Well done!

      • If you are a Scotsman with that kind of money then you should have bid to buy it. White Australians are British genetically so what is your point?

    3. Hi Kate, open it as a bespoke hotel and wedding venue, similar to the hotel in Balmoral, bought and restored by Swiss art collectors couple, to good not to use, sad its empty

      • In Reply to Frank Bonfanti – I agree. This is an excellent idea. And if she is unable to actually live there, for whatever reason, She could hire a management company to utilize it. My guess is that with so much custom work, like the carpets, she is afraid to allow anyone to use it. I can understand that. But perhaps she could rent out the grounds with the other buildings that have been refurbished, and have weddings and the like on the grounds.

    4. I think it’s wonderful how you poured all your time and money into this castle. I hope and pray that someone buys it soon that will love it as much as you did through all the work and effort. May God bless you.

    5. I love Scotland, but no wonder Scotland always lost against the English. The people who dislike the new castle are snobs, she saved it! Kate is awesome, everyone else is jealous. Awa’ n bile yer heid!!!!!
      ~An American Rascal!

    6. Homelessness is a global issue and this decadent display of grotesque wealth wasted isn’t a proud moment for an Australian. In NSW in tourist areas like Circular Quay and the streets of historic Parramatta homelessness is so visible it’s a social disgrace. When is society going to value people instead of displays of egocentred wealth that mirrors a selfish view of success? Scotland has homeless people and with all that land and all those rooms isn’t it time the people, who are descended from the people the Kennedy’s took land from and battled with, got to enjoy their ancestral home: the land that they hold in common as part of their biological and cultural history. Royals everywhere are out of touch and spoilt. People build these overgrown costly heating monuments to themselves! Give the land and a home to the people who need it – turn it into a retirement home or permaculture the landscape and give value and integrity to people who struggle buying their groceries or putting a roof over their childrens’ heads!
      Ballrooms are torture traces: dance for the people outside! We all know castles and the wealthy conceal histories of murder, incest, rape, debauchery, slavery, theft, hypocrisy, religious corruption and treachery…Make it real, make it human and reconnect people with their integrity.

    7. All I know is it took guts to take on a restoration like that. She sold it at a loss but her main concern is that it will be well cared for. You have to give her props for that.

    LEAVE A REPLY

    Please enter your comment!
    Please enter your name here

    £1 per week Supports The Steeple Times

    Help journalism to remain honest & independent. You can make a difference to the world today.

    3,573FansLike
    2,068FollowersFollow
    16,731FollowersFollow
    4,962SubscribersSubscribe

    Subscribe For DAILY NEWS

    Please subscribe, like and share this unique site, it helps us tremendously. The Steeple Times in return will send you an email at noon each and everyday, that we sincerely hope you will enjoy & look forward to seeing in your inbox.

    AD
    Advertisement

    Trending Now

    Getting One’s Goat – A Cheesy Conundrum – Goat vs Goats vs Goat’s vs Goats’ Cheese

    Matthew Steeples explores conundrum of how to describe cheese made from goat’s milk and shares thoughts of Susie Dent to Alan Rusbridger, Christine Hamilton, Jay Rayner, Matthew Jukes, Mic Wright, Nigella Lawson, Matthew Wright, Tom Parker Bowles and Samantha Markle on goat cheese.

    Most Popular Articles

    The Phil & Matt Show

    Phillip Schofield filmed smoking shisha with his alleged ex-lover Matt McGreevy (and pictured in bed thereafter); another image shows the pair together in photograph...

    Was Mucky Minx Meghan Markle A ‘Yacht Girl’ For ‘Randy Andy’?

    As author Kirby Sommers suggests that the then Meghan Markle likely spent time with Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein before she met Prince Harry, we again highlight the mucky, murkiness and mendacious manner of this alleged “yacht girl.”

    SchofieldLite

    ‘Politicalite’ suggest Phillip Schofield orchestrated his ‘mass coming out’ after a former ‘This Morning’ runner had gone to the press about a supposed relationship...

    Meddling Meghan Markle Expose – Attwood, Hopkins & Steeples

    Expose interview with Matthew Steeples by Shaun Attwood and Jennifer Hopkins about the former Meghan Markle watched over 73,000 times in 16 hours since it aired; Steeples condemns hapless Prince Harry and his meddling menace wife.

    Ampika Pickston

    Oldham born divorcee and former glamour model Ampika Pickston describes herself as “feisty, fun loving and warm hearted”. Now based in Hale Barns, Cheshire...

    Justice for James Scurlock

    Power of social media proven after senseless killing of James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska allegedly by a controversial bar owner named Jake Gardner who has been photographed with Donald Trump.

    Nasty NestSeekers

    Entitled Hamptons brat Jonathan Davis exposed for allegedly squatting in Sag Harbor during the coronavirus lockdown; it turns out he’s a realtor with NestSeekers.
    [td_block_6 custom_title="Most Liked..." sort="popular7"]