When we moved into the castle in the late 1970s, we discovered that damage to the roof by a previous owner meant one of our most awe-inspiring rooms had to be partitioned off as unusable.
 
However, today the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Historic England have announced an incredible grant as part of the Culture Recovery Fund, which will help us to start repairs and bring this room back into use.

This will include roof repairs, and the restoration of the bronze and glass lantern to safeguard the Grand Stairs of Brancepeth Castle.
 
With this complete, we can safely begin longer-term renovation projects to the interior, allowing it to shine once again as a centrepiece for tours and functions at Brancepeth Castle.
 
Our massive thanks to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Historic England for the allocation of the grant.
 
We are looking forward to starting this project and will hopefully reopen our gates in 2021 to welcome visitors who will be able to see another step forward in preserving this magnificent building.

The Dobson family have owned Brancepeth Castle since 1978, when it was bought as a base for Dennis Dobson's publishing company, Dobson Books. The company published its first book in 1944 and for the next 35 years was based in London.

Notable authors published by the firm include humorists Spike Milligan, Ronald Searle and Gerard Hoffnung, science fiction legends Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance and John Wyndham, and children's picture books from David McKee, Ralph Steadman and Quentin Blake. Alongside these were serious works on musicology, religion and politics.

By the late 1970s the lease on the Dobson warehouse in Notting Hill was coming to an end, and a couple of chance encounters led to the family buying the castle - the cellars gave ample space for warehousing and there was plenty of room upstairs for offices and accommodation.

Sadly Dennis Dobson died before the move could be completed, but the books all arrived and were duly packed into the wine cellar, the old kitchens and other (large) corners of the castle. Few new books were published after the move, but the business continued selling on books from its extensive catalogue. With the eventual closing down of the business the remainder of the stock was bought in by the Castle and is being sold second hand through this shop. There is something for everyone, with forgotten gems to be discovered or re-discovered.

Alongside the books there is a range of castle merchandise, from bags and tea towels to fridge magnets and postcards. A growing section of the shop, however, displays craft items made in the castle. So far we have beautiful cutting/cheese boards in a range of woods, zipped pouches in designer and vintage fabrics, and our home made marmalades - with more items to follow.

The sun shining, picnic on the lawn, a cold glass of wine and an energetic and highly entertaining production of Romeo and Juliet - a perfect way to spend a warm summer's evening.

The touring theatre company Heartbreak Productions returned to Brancepeth Castle on 3rd July with their own take on Romeo and Juliet.

Imagine how the play might look if it had been written for the 21st century - the Capulets and Montagues become notorious celebrity families, they play out their feud in the full glare of social media, Benvolio is a gangster rapper and Friar Lawrence is a dubious mystic guru to the stars. Even the programme was a Hello-style magazine!

Despite the modern makeover Shakespeare's 16th century text was never far away, and the scenes between Romeo and Juliet in particular kept faithfully to the original verse. In between, the plot was carried forward with some clever re-writing to bring it right up to date.

There were plenty of laughs, not least from the performance of the nurse, together with an undercurrent of gang violence that led to the final tragedy. The contemporary setting really brought the play to life and appealed across the generations.

We hope to see the company back again next year and look forward to what they might dream up.

On Wednesday 3rd July there will be an open-air production of Romeo and Juliet in the castle courtyard. Come early and picnic in style on the lawn before the show.

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s best loved and most accessible plays, and staging it in a castle courtyard creates an even more dramatic atmosphere. Bring your own seats and rugs for what promises to be a memorable evening’s entertainment, with the classic storyline updated for the modern world. Gates open at 6pm to give you plenty of time to picnic on the lawn ahead of the show; there will be a range of refreshments on sale, but please feel free to bring your own food and drink.

For the first time the castle will be open for guided visits on a regular basis with no pre-booking required.

Tours will run from April through to November on selected dates. All tours are led by a member of the family who will be able to give you the inside story on the people and events that have shaped the castle over the ages. To complement the tours we have also opened the Castle Crafts and Bookshop in the old stables. The shop sells a small range of castle merchandise from post cards to tea towels, an expanding range of craft items made in the castle, and a wide range of second hand books from the Dobson archive in the castle cellars. For dates and times of tours please visit http://www.brancepethcastle.org.uk/castle-tours.html

Historic England has recently supported some research into the medieval origins of the castle, and on 30th March their findings were unveiled at a public talk, where we were pleased to see all seats filled!

Penny Middleton of NAA Heritage Consultants reported on her research and speculated on the nature of the buildings and layout that pre-date the medieval structures that still exist. Attendees were then taken in small groups through the cellars to spot features from the talk in context. If you missed out, read on for details about our guided tours of the castle: another chance to visit the medieval cellars and to learn more about the history of this fascinating building.

A few weeks ago we were approached by the BBC about a book our family had published in the 1960s: a collection of prints of posters from the French Atelier Populaire movement.

These posters were created in support of the student riots of May 1968. The protests began with students objecting to the policies of President Charles de Gaulle and then escalated to the point where a million people joined a march through Paris calling for his resignation.

The posters became a symbol of the protests and, in the years following, valuable artwork. Original posters can now fetch up to £1,500 depending on the rarity and condition.

While we were hunting in the cellars to find samples of the prints we made the amazing discovery of a stash of the original  poster artwork.

The clip below from the BBC Inside Out programme explains more.

Click the link below to read the full story.

After months of work and huge amounts of help and support from the Historic England team, we have completed one of the largest projects in living memory at the castle.

The £400,000 grant secured from Historic England allowed us to successfully complete urgently-required work to replace the old roofing felt and repair the stonework on the majority of the medieval castle towers.

Massive thanks to the whole team who worked on this.

The video below explains the importance of the work carried out on the roof and the crucial role played by Historic England.

Click the link below to head straight over to the Historic England website where you can read more about the project.