When I founded the Swordsmen of New Zealand in 1996, I stated on the original website that one of my dreams was to create a big boys playground for sword fighting and archery. Now some 25 years later that dream has become a reality.
Following a two year New Zealand wide search I located a property in a small town call Eltham on a the aptly named Castle Street in South Taranaki. The property had everything I was looking for; wide open spaces, creeks, a small hill and all under the might gaze of Mt Taranaki. It was meant to be!
So after a coversation about what I was proposing to do with the local council who thought I was a bit mad, I engaged a firm of Wellington Consulting engineers who put together 132 pages a designs, reports and data. The local council then issued a permit to proceed with my castle endeavour!
The next step in the build is to have the concrete slab poured in mid November 2023 which then requires 42 days of curing as the Castle when complete will weigh in at 17,000 tonnes. During curing, the concrete will be colored and stenciled with a old fashion cobble pattern and blocks moved in to the site ready to build the walls.
When the wall is up the four two bedroom units will be erected with an old English style thatched roof. The final touch is a 25,000 litre moat to be dug out around the Castle and filled from the stream by a continuous ram pump.
Enquires
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The journey
Click the image for more photos.
