Couple sell London house to buy abandoned castle they’ve never seen

No regrets…’ says Steve Riseley, looking up at the castle – Castle Elvira in Italy’s Puglia region – that he now calls home. ‘Too much blood, sweat and tears, but no regrets.’ It wasn’t always this way.

Halfway through the four-year, multimillion-pound project to restore a castle that had been abandoned for more than a hundred years, vandalised, looted and generally destroyed, he started to wish he and his artist/film-maker husband Harvey B Brown had never seen the place.

‘There were times I wished I could have given up, but we couldn’t, because we were too far in,’ says Steve.

Thanks to the couple’s tenacity, insistence on a quality renovation and eye for detail, Castle Elvira has not only become the most beautiful home imaginable, it is now one of the most celebrated hotels in Europe, winning awards for Best Art/Design Hotel in Europe and Best Castle Hotel in Italy – all from what began as a side hustle they put into action to help meet the enormous cost of making Harvey’s childhood dream of living in a castle come true.

‘It actually started as a joke from our estate agent,’ says Steve, explaining that, having managed bars and pubs in London, he and Harvey had decided to sell their London home and get ‘more bang for their buck’ in southern Italy.

‘We’d renovated a house, Palladian front, the works, and were expecting to live there for the rest of our lives,’ he says from Castle Elvira.

(Steve Riseley and Harvey B Brown.Picture: ©Mark Cocksedge)

(But it was love and first sight for Steve and Harvey.Credits: ©Rei Moon)

(The castle that had been abandoned for more than a hundred years, vandalised, looted and generally destroyed. Credits: ©Rei Moon)

The estate agent sent through a picture of a dilapidated castle… and they fell in love at first sight. ‘The agent said,“I was only joking. I found it on the internet.” Then he discovered it was actually on the market.

The castle came with a tragic story. A rich family in the early 20th century had a daughter they called ‘princess’. One day, so the tale goes, she said, ‘If I’m a princess, why don’t I live in a castle?’ so her father set about building her one, Castle Elvira. When she saw it, she was so overjoyed she wanted to make her father a special meal and went to pick mushrooms – mushrooms that turned out to be poisonous. So heartbroken was her father at the death of his princess, that he shut up the unlived-in castle – furniture and all – never to return.

(They’ve since turned it into the most beautiful castle hotel in Italy.Picture: ©Rei Moon)

(It was Harvey’s dream to live in a historic castle.Picture: Taylor and Porter)

(The major construction was undertaken just before covid hit .Picture: ©Mark Cocksedge)

(Steve and Harvey were adamant that they wanted to restore the castle’s period features.Picture: ©Rei Moon)

(They kept the old period ceilings, insistent they wanted them left and made safe. Picture: ©Rei Moon)

(The couple hired workmen to carry out the renovations and added some eccentric and lavish personal touches themselves.Picture: ©Rei Moon)

(The couple say their experience was ‘Too much blood, sweat and tears, but no regrets.’Credits: ©Rei Moon)

(The couple say their experience was ‘Too much blood, sweat and tears, but no regrets.’Picture: ©Mark Cocksedge)

(Now the experience is over, they know it has all been worth it.Credits: ©Mark Cocksedge)

Ref: Couple sell London house to buy abandoned castle they’ve never seen (metro)

Photo Credit- Mark Cocksedge, Rei Moon, Taylor and Porter