Kirby Knowle Castle: How 'labour of love' turned historic castle on a hill into stunning £7m family home
A historic Yorkshire castle has been turned into a magnificent family home after a years-long restoration project – now it is up for sale for £7m. Chris Burn reports.
They say an Englishman’s home is his castle – something that is quite literally the case for Yorkshire businessman David Kempley.
Mr Kempley is the owner of Kirby Knowle Castle near Thirsk, a Grade II listed property set in 65 acres of land that is now on the market for £7m.
The castle dates back to the 13th Century and among its claims to fame are that Mary Queen of Scots was reportedly a frequent visitor at a time when Sir Thomas Rokeby, a knight and one of the justices of the king's Bench, owned the property.
Mr Kempley purchased the castle around nine years ago and then commenced on major renovation works to modernise a property he says was in an “unliveable” condition. The huge overhaul included the renovation or replacement of all damaged architectural stonework and window openings together with re-roofing, rewiring and the installation of a commercial capacity biomass heating system.
Mr Kempley, who is chairman of Leeds-based salad manufacturing family business Troy Foods, says: "We bought it in March and we were going to move in the September. I was stood in there in August and realised we hadn’t got a cat in hell’s chance of getting in.
"I’ve always done properties up as we’ve lived in them because that way you get a better feel for it but that wasn’t going to happen. So we ended up renting a house in Harrogate for two-and-a-half years. Basically, we stripped it all the way back, all windows, all roofs, electric, everything.
"Two years in, I was stood in the middle of the house as we’d taken the entire middle of the house out and just thought to myself, ‘What the hell have you done!?’
"But it was a labour of love and I absolutely love the building. We really put it back to how it was and how it needed to be. We had stonemasons on site for two years and I was there every other day.”
He says the moment when he realised the effort was worth it was not moving in but before that.
"The moment was when we did the full centre of the house where this new staircase goes all the way up. Everything was boarded up because it was open to the elements. They took the scaffolding down and the boards out of the window and you realise you have done it right.
"It was just great, we had done everything and done it all properly.
“What we wanted to do was create a new house within a 13th Century castle. So it needed all the correct wifi, all the correct heating. When we got there, on the top floor bathroom if you turned the hot tap on it would be lukewarm in two minutes, 45 seconds. Now it works immediately.”
One of his favourite rooms in the property is one storing its new biomass heating system, which was installed by the same company which had performed a similar job for Chatsworth.
"When we got there that was a two-bedroom house with a little boiler house attached to it. We had Ecosmart who did Chatsworth and it is basically now a mini-Chatsworth system and it is work of art. It took them months to do it.”
He adds: "It is quite a sustainable house which makes it quite a cheap house to run.”
As part of the changes, the number of bedrooms were reduced down to seven with rooms knocked through, while the property also now features a completely redesigned garden to the front south elevation with an ornamental fountain and a barbecue kitchen.
It also has a fully equipped gym and steam room, wine cellar, library, cinema room and a games room. In addition to the main home, the property also has a two-bedroomed detached cottage on the grounds with its own sitting room, kitchen and utility room.
So what is it like living in your own castle?
Mr Kempley says: "It is a cool thing to do. I like being outside so when I did the outside barbecue area, I put it in place so I could have the view while cooking.
"It is a family home. It is a big house but it doesn’t feel big. There are a lot of rooms in that place that we knocked out. It had 12 bedrooms and six bathrooms. We just redid the whole layout and found a lot of the old plans going back 400 years so we could see how things were then. It has been a great home, we’ve done a job on it and it is now time to move on.”
Harlan Pollitt, director at North Residential, which is jointly marketing the property with Savills, says the hefty price tag for the property is well justified.
"You’ve got to see this thing to see the quality of it. We’re not just talking internally, we’re talking externally – pathways, driveways, the detail of stone, the gardens, it is very spectacular. What we tend to see on a lot of properties of this value the trend for buyers does seem to people who have that link to Yorkshire; they are either coming back or have got some link.
"The views from this place… you couldn’t make them up really. You get to the top of the turret and you could probably sit there most of the day. Spectacular probably doesn’t do it justice.”
Mr Kempley says: “I just want someone to move in who will hopefully look after it. We have brought it all the way back to lasting another 200 to 300 years and I hope they look after it going forward.”
Viewings are strictly by prior appointment. For further information, contact North Residential at [email protected].