Adelina Patti's Craig-y-Nos Castle up for sale

Tue, 05 Jul 2011

By Mary Vancura

Craig-y-Nos Castle, the imposing 40-bedroom hotel and former Welsh home of legendary opera star, Adelina Patti, has been put up for sale - on the proviso that the new owner keeps it trading as an ongoing business.

The neo-Gothic complex in the Swansea Valley is currently run as a country house hotel, and has in excess of £1 million of forward bookings. The castle has a price tag of £1.5 million and has been described as a "hidden gem", coming complete with its own Grade I-listed theatre - a creation added by Patti herself after she bought it in 1878, offering world-class operatic acoustics.

The building - which dates back to 1843 - has had substantial structural and renovation work carried out on it since the current owner, businessman Martin Gover, purchased it ten years ago and began running it as a hotel.

Mark Baker, a conservationist who is studying for a PhD in Welsh country homes, said the property was unique as both a hotel and a performance venue.

"The theatre there is one of the most sumptuous private theatres in Wales," he said. "There are none left to compare to it now because theatres were not kept. A lot of [Adelina Patti's] vision is still existing there, with the backdrops and murals etc."