Lanarch Castle
Well we got up in Invercargill, the weather was lousy and we saw nothing that we thought would be interesting so we set off again, this time for Dunedin. I thought of Dunedin as being a little historic town so had assumed we would just drive in and find a place to stay. Boy, was I wrong. A small city, lots of accommodation so where would we start!
We went to a couple of places but they were either too dear or booked out. We then came to the conclusion that maybe we should head out and find a holiday park again. We spotted a motel first and decided to check it out. It sounded good and we could have a room but it wasn't the one that we would have liked. We wanted 2 nights accommodation. The room we wanted would be available tommorrow night though.
In the mean time there was one place out of town that I thought we be nice to stay at but I knew it was not cheap. I phoned them and they had a vacancy for tonight, not tommorrow night. Problem solved, we would stay there tonight and come back to the motel tommorrow night. Every one was happy!
We set off for our choice of accommodation, Lanarch Castle. We also booked for the dinner in the Castle dining room. It took us about 20 minutes to get there but when we arrived at about 6pm, the electronic gates were closed but to make it worse, the mechanism had failed! There were about 4 cars inside waiting to get out and 2 cars outside, waiting to get in. Finally, one of the Castles gentlemen, a security man and Andrew, with the help of an Allen key, got the gates open but they had to be tied open until some one came out to fix them.
It was 6.30 when we got in and we were supposed to have pre dinner drinks at 6.45 and dinner at 7. They did postpone it for half an hour so that we could at least freshen up.
We went for drinks and met some of our fellow diners. Then we had our 3 course meal. As a way of compensation they gave Andrew and I, complimentry drinks. We made some friends at dinner too. A lovely french lady and her 3 children (who live in Christchurch). We all had a great time and eventually helped the lady to her accommodation with the children, as they had fallen asleep.
We had a laugh and a great night. Because Andrew said that all he needed was an Allen Key to open the gates, and that is what was used, the staff said they would just call him Mr Allen Key.
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We decided at the last minute to stay there for 1 night. There were only 2 rooms left in the Lodge which has 12 themed rooms and is on the seaward side of the castle. We had the Scottish Room. It had an ensuite and a balcony.
The other type of accomodation is the Stable Stay which is a converted coach house built in 1871. It has Six bedrooms with shared bathrooms.
A cooked breakfast is included in the overnight stay and in served downstairs in the Stables. Very nice.
Also included in the price you can wander around the castle and its grounds.
There is also a gift shop and in the Ballroom there is a cafe. The Ballroom can be hired out for functions.
If you are staying overnight, you can also book to have dinner in the castle dining room. Well worth the experience. Due to a gate malfunction we were late getting in for our stay but they held the dinner back a bit for us. It started with pre dinner drinks in the drawing room and then we went to the dining room for a 3 course meal. Because of the problems with the gates and Andrew helping to open them, our drinks were complimentry.
William Larnach built the castle for his first wife. Construction began in 1871 and it was 3 years before the family moved in. The building was completed with the addition of the Ballroom in 1887 which was built on as a 21st birthday gift to his daughter Katie. The castle is set on 35 acres and overlooks the Otago Harbour. It is about a 20 minute drive out of Dunedin.
