Staying in British castles without paying a royal sum

As night settled over the Welsh mountains, I heard goats bleating. But where were they? Standing in the courtyard, I saw only Craig-y-Nos Castle towering over me, and the sound seemed to emanate from within its gray stone facade. Then I saw curtains flutter in the attic. A ghost?

More Addams Family manse than stately manor, Craig-y-Nos — in South Wales, about 20 miles north of Swansea — wasn't the fairy-tale castle I'd imagined. I'd wanted to dream where knights and maidens had slept. I'd wanted a four-poster bed, chocolates on my pillow, maybe even romance during a trip with my husband.

But our budget was modest so we scaled down expectations, focusing on places around $100 per night. Believe it or not, they exist.

While most may associate castles with romance and royalty, they weren't built for comfort. "Castles were properly fortified structures," said historian Lise Hull, who maintains the Web site Castles-of-britain.com. And, she said, real castles were built from the 11th century into the 16th century — anything after that "can be considered mock castles ... really only fine homes."

Hull said at least 2,364 medieval castles remain. Trevor Johnson, of Historic UK magazine, noted that many structures we now call castles were built in the mid- to late-1880s by "Victorian men with more money than sense."

Some serve as public museums, while others make money from group events such as weddings. At least 90 in Britain are hotels or rent rooms. A few cash-strapped private owners even welcome guests into their homes.

To me, size and luxury meant less than location. Using an Atlas, I mapped a 1,600-mile road trip from London west to Wales, then north to the Scottish Highlands. Along our route, we'd stop at three very different castles: Gothic Craig-y-Nos in Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales; medieval Langley, near Hexham, England; and austere Carbisdale, a Scottish Highlands hostel. Two were said to be haunted.

Each had its charms, but I'll take the royal treatment over poltergeists any day.

Craig-y-Nos Castle, Wales

We arrived at dusk at Craig-y-Nos, a monolith about 190 miles west of London. Scaffolding on one turret cast spooky shadows, while the castle's swan fountain was silent. Its name means "rock of the night," and on this night, the place looked haunted. The growling dog didn't help.

Castle-keeper Martin Gover — who bought the estate in 2000 for a "complete change from city life in London" — says he's poured more than $1.8 million into renovating Craig-y-Nos, built in 1843.

We stayed in a Nurses' Block shared-bath room, which was about $100 for two with breakfast. Nurses bunked there during the castle's 1921 incarnation as a hospital for tuberculosis patients, many of them children. Later it treated geriatric and chronically ill people. Many died. It's said their ghosts linger.

Our ground-floor room retained a hospital ambiance: over-the-bed light, white sink, bare floor. A hot pot, tagless tea bags and instant coffee filled a tabletop. Fluffy towels and a lavender comforter provided a hint of luxury in the tiny room.

Down the hall, separate-sex showers required a 50-pence piece to heat the water, but we only had one coin. Gene took the pence and I shivered through a sponge bath in a tub we shared with our neighbors. When I tried to brush my teeth, the sink sprayer doused me.

I blamed faulty plumbing, but I suppose it could have been a ghost. Craig-y-Nos has been featured on British television as Wales' "most haunted" castle and Webcams attempt to capture the invisible. Ghost tours, plus events with mediums and psychics, are conducted by the Paranormal World, a company partly owned by castle staffer Kelly Burnell.

While ghost-hunting on creaky red-carpeted floors, we discovered another side to Craig-y-Nos: guest rooms with antique furnishings and claw-foot tubs, a huge contrast to ours — and for only about $50 more.

Information: 011-44-1639-730205 or www.craigynoscastle.com.

Langley Castle, England

I didn't pick Langley Castle for its 7-foot-thick walls or stone toilets, but I'll always remember them.

Located in Langley-on-Tyne, Northumberland, the castle has the best-preserved medieval latrines, or garderobes, in Europe. Built in 1350, Langley sits near Hadrian's Wall, constructed 18 centuries ago to keep out northern barbarians. Around 1405, fire destroyed all but the stone walls.

Not until 1895 did historian Cadwallader Bates begin restoration (his grave is 100 yards from the castle entrance), which led to the castle's new life as a girls' school and private dwelling. Then, in 1985, MIT professor Stuart Madnick bought Langley and opened it to guests.

Sitting atop a hill, the castle is reached by a path that winds past gnarled trees. It's boxy, and towers jut from four corners. Inside, armor decorates the foyer and tapestries and paintings of royalty adorn walls — all those things associated with storybook castles.

I'd booked a $106 room in an outbuilding but was upgraded for free to the $388 Tindale Room by the grand staircase, past the latrines. Above its four-poster canopied bed hung a unicorn-and-lion tapestry. Carpets, curtains and bathrobes were plush. Pampering was mandatory: Parisian soaps, ginger cookies, tea. TV and Internet? Of course.

With only nine castle bedrooms (plus 10 others in two outbuildings), Langley is small but has won the Les Routiers designation given to top hotels. When we visited, couples were celebrating anniversaries, living their castle fantasies. Information: 011-44-1434-688-888 or www.langleycastle.com.

Carbisdale Castle, Scotland

Surrounded by thick forest in Scotland's rugged highlands, Carbisdale Castle has the grand towers, pitched roofs and stone walls to which we'd become accustomed during our castle-hopping tour.

But unlike our other stops, Carbisdale is a backpacker's paradise with a royal pedigree, a 189-bed hostel a half-mile from the train station. Manager Collette Stewart says 24,000 guests check in annually, from school kids to international visitors.

The castle, in Culrain, Sutherland, was built between 1906 and 1917 for the thrice-married Dowager Duchess of Sutherland, but she died before it was finished. In 1933, Col. Theodore Salvesen, a wealthy businessman with Norwegian roots, bought it. He provided refuge to King Haakon VII of Norway during the Nazi occupation of that country in World War II.

In 1945, Salvesen's son Harold bequeathed the castle and its contents to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association. Now, functional tartan carpeting hides boot marks. Walls, painted crimson and spinach-green to obscure fingerprints, have been moved — the result being that fireplaces end up in hallways or behind bunk beds.

Signs of former grandeur remain, such as bells used to summon servants. A curving stairway leads past stained-glass windows to a game room. In a library crammed with children's books, novels and scholarly works, an intricate ceiling is adorned with spikes that could impale dozing occupants.

Our Spartan dorm room — wall hooks, chair, bunks — cost $52 for two, but the view of the River Kyle was priceless. Bathrooms and kitchens are shared, but Carbisdale has a dining hall — a lifesaver in this isolated location if you haven't brought groceries.

This far north in June, the sky never turned black. At 3:30 a.m., day dawned; by 7 a.m., I was eating with a German family flipping omelets and Japanese girls warming apple pie.

Since Carbisdale is supposed to be another hotbed of ghosts, I went hunting for a spectral bagpiper, a "lady in white," an angry soldier and children. Alas, the ghosts were quiet that day.

Information: 011-44-1549- 421232, www.carbisdale.org (the castle is closed in winter) or Scottish Youth Hostels Association, 011-44-8701-553255, www.syha.org.uk.

Footnotes

Castle information: Go to www.castles-of-britain.com for castle history and culture (plus links to their Web sites).

British tourist information : VisitBritain, 800-462-2748 or www.visitbritain.com.