Castell de Llaés in Catalonia, Spain dates back to the 10th century. The castle is owned by an elderly Catalan couple who bought the crumbling building from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vic in 1994. Joan Tarrida i Miquel and Esther Capdevila spent 16 years restoring the castle and were looking for its next stewards when Marc Guinjoan came along.
Marc Guinjoan has been its caretaker since 2013 and oversees the property’s maintenance and daily operations. His wife, Ginny Martens joined him on the project in 2017.
Marc offered to rent the place and transform it into a rural accommodation while putting the proceeds back into maintaining the grounds. “I felt an internal call, but at the same time, I considered that the owners would not accept it since the castle was for sale,” Guinjoan said. “The surprise was that they called me to accept the proposal, and that is where the adventure began.”
The earliest known document that mentions the castle is from the year 919. More recently, the castle housed a rectory and a municipal school until 1971. The castle was abandoned for more than 20 years before Tarrida and his wife decided to buy the property.
“The Castle and its surroundings seduced us from the first moment, this seduction — together with the love for the territory and for its history — led us to undertake the great adventure of its acquisition and restoration,” Tarrida said.
But renovating the dilapidated castle was no easy task: The stone walls were crumbling from years of neglect, and the buildings didn’t even have water or electricity. Apart from being exposed to the elements for more than two decades, the castle was also vandalized. Luckily, the basic structures of the building, including walls, vaults, and a water cistern, were in good condition.
The most complex part of the restoration process was the main roof. Due to the sheer size of the area that needed to be covered it was a challenge even to set up the wooden framing studs required to support the roof.
The property is perched on a rocky hill, and can only be reached on foot — making it difficult to transport the construction materials needed to the site. The castle is on top of a mountain, at 998 meters, or 3261 feet, above sea level. “It is nestled on a rocky hill at the end of a staggered, zig-zag ramp that cannot be accessed by any type of vehicle,” Tarrida said. The couple had to install a freight elevator at the base of the hill, which was the furthest the vehicles carrying the different materials could reach.
Tarrida and his wife, Capdevila, started restoring the castle in 1994 and completed it in 2010. The castle has eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen with a terrace.
Only materials that were true to the castle’s time were used to repair the building. Modern updates made include the addition of water, electricity, and heating facilities. Many of the castle’s original features were saved, including the ancient water cistern used to store rainwater, a stone vault, and the castle’s tower. The entrance portal, as well as the vast majority of both interior and exterior walls, were maintained as well.
For the couple, the most rewarding part of the experience has been the ability to share the castle with people they would have otherwise never met.
But the most precious moments are when he gets lost in admiring the landscape and the castle’s stones that have been placed by those who existed centuries ago, Guinjoan added. “It is something that overwhelms us and makes us feel like a small part of the long history of the castle, but also reminds me that I’m in the present, to leave a legacy for others in the future,” Guinjoan said.
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I’m sure most of us as kids have dreamed about living in a castle, and some never grew out of that dream. It’s also nice to see a centuries-old compound being resurrected.