Castle & Gallery

Tale of the Castle

Imagine wandering through the English countryside, where the trees whisper old secrets and the hills roll like waves. Suddenly, you come upon a curious fortress. Its turrets rise proudly, its battlements cut against the sky, and though it looks like something from medieval times, it was actually built in the early 1800s. And yet the ground it stands on is far older...

Over a thousand years ago, in 987 AD, King Ethelred’s charter mentioned this land as Fernleah. By the Domesday Book, it was Ferlege, and later Farleigh. Families of power and ambition claimed it—first the Montforts, then the Hungerfords. Sir Thomas Hungerford, Speaker of the House of Commons in 1370, dreamed of turning the manor into a fortress. The Hungerfords’ tale is filled with shadows. Some met their end on the executioner’s block during the Wars of the Roses.

Centuries later, in 1806, Lt. Colonel John Houlton inherited the estate. Enthralled by the Gothic Revival style, he expanded Farleigh House and built six lodges. One of them was Castle Lodge—
Today, Bath Lodge Castle stands as both a relic and a retreat. Guests wander its grounds, sleep beneath its turrets, and feel as though they’ve stepped into a fairy tale—where every stone carries the weight of centuries, and every breeze whispers the stories of kings, rebels, and dreamers.