I suppose we all remember the house, or houses, we grew up in. Where we learned to walk, or first explore the garden, or climb some stairs.

Most houses are quite small. Some are quite big. And then there are houses like Cluny Castle in Abderdeenshire.

I was joined on the podcast this week by its owner, Cosmo Linzee Gordon, who grew up there. Cosmo agreed to answer the questions that I imagine I am not alone in wondering: what exactly is it like to grow up in a big castle? What is hide and seek like when you have more than 20 rooms to get lost in? And is it really freezing all year around?

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Not only did Cosmo grow up at Cluny, he also took over running the house and estate in his early 20s, meaning that he is also well placed to answer another important question — what’s it like to keep it going? Because big houses — just like small houses — love nothing more than breaking, and are tremendously expensive to fix. They are more than just homes, they are monuments to architecture and the Arts that need preserving, a task that is easier said than done.

For Cosmo, it meant diversifying into a wedding business, that means that people from the UK and abroad can fulfil their fantasy of a fairytale wedding (I mean seriously, look at the pictures of this place: it is the very definition of ‘castle’).

There's something else too: what’s it like to know that there is a certain future set in stone for you? Maybe Cosmo would have wanted to become an astronaut, or a rock star. Sadly, he never really got the choice. I mean, there are worse things in life to be lumped with than a castle and estate in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, but it’s not everyone’s dream.

These are just some of the many questions we discuss in this week’s podcast, which basically boils down to ‘the secret stories of growing up and living in a big castle’. We like to ask the important questions here at Country Life. We hope you’ll enjoy listening to the important answers.

Episode credits

• Host: James Fisher
• Guests: Cosmo Linzee Gordon
• Editor and Producer: Toby Keel
• Music: JuliusH via Pixabay

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