Knowing well her passion for collecting real estate (they already maintain two handfuls of homes around the globe!), when jet-setting go-getter Ann Kaplan convinced her husband Stephen to have look at a castle in the U.K. last fall, the professional hockey player turned entrepreneurial cosmetic and plastic surgeon told his wife, “We are not buying a castle.” Then, they did.
Known as Lympne Castle, the sprawling estate encompasses almost 140 stunning acres about two hours by car southeast of Central London, just outside the coastal market town of Hythe on the south coast of Kent. It’s believed that a Saxon Abbey that stood on the site was converted to a residence in 1089, when it became the permanent residence of the local Archdeacon until sometime in the mid-1860s.
Added on to several times over the centuries, which accounts for the numerous and varied architectural styles woven together like a tapestry, the castle was used in World War I to house troops stationed nearby. Due to its high perch at the edge of an escarpment, unimpeded views sweep over Romney Marsh and, on the clearest of days, extend across the English Channel to the French coastline. And indeed, so the story goes, during World War II, the vantage point made it possible to see and prepare for rockets launched from Calais.
Most recently used as a venue for weddings, the historic estate has reportedly hosted myriad political and ecclesiastical luminaries, such as Thomas Becket, along with Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney (Wings recorded parts of their 1979 album “Back to the Egg” here) and more recently, the cast of the long-running reality romp “The Only Way Is Essex.”
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Image Credit: Scott Collier The ancient castle and its grounds came to market last year amid much fanfare and ballyhoo at £11 millon, about $13.3 million at current conversion rates. The castle already had an offer on it at the time Kaplan and Mulholland first viewed it last October, but the deal fell through, and Kaplan quickly swooped in and negotiated the price all the way down to £5.5 million, a tetch more than $6.6 million.
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Image Credit: Scott Collier A self-made businesswoman, author, speaker, wedding officiant, globe-trotting mother to eight and fit-as-a-fiddle fashionista who came to some reality TV notoriety back in 2017 on the lone season of “The Real Housewives of Toronto,” Kaplan says she had a vision for “creating a tourist and event venue that offered a mix of history with a ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ twist.”
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Image Credit: Scott Collier Kaplan says she wants to fill the place with unusual and authentic items that will make the experience of visiting the castle feel special and unique. She’s been keeping an eye out for tiaras and crowns — they’re more difficult to find than she imagined — and needing a cargo-ship full of furniture to fill the place, she and Mulholland recently acquired at auction more than 800 pieces taken out of The Dorchester as part of the iconic London hotel’s ongoing renovation.
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Image Credit: Scott Collier The grounds also include four independent cottages and a bistro, which is useful for hosting large groups and catering events. The couple plan to carve out private quarters for themselves in the castle but will otherwise operate the Grade I estate as one-of-a-kind venue for weddings, parties, and other events. Having been lowered out of the ceiling for her own vow renewal, which was featured on “RHOT,” Kaplan has a penchant for the theatrical so whatever weddings and events book themselves into Lympne Castle can expect something memorable.
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Image Credit: Scott Collier With its crenulated tower and forest of chimney stacks, the baronial castle will contain about 20 rooms, while the four cottages — two with two bedrooms and two with three bedrooms — are also available to let.
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Image Credit: Scott Collier Kaplan intends to refresh the grounds, which incorporate several walled gardens, a swimming pool, a couple of vegetable patches, vast lawns, and paved terraces. Amid the open pastures and thick woodlands are numerous outbuildings, including greenhouses, stables, barns, and storehouses.
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Image Credit: Scott Collier That the Canadian couple now own an honest-to-goodness castle in Britain makes some sense when you consider the rest of their international property portfolio. In addition to a handful of places in Canada’s British Columbia — a couple of luxury condos in Vancouver, one with a private yacht moorage, a beachfront home in Victoria, and an English Tudor house in the Uplands — there’s a full-floor penthouse in Las Vegas as well as a couple of waterfront places in Hawaii. The oproperty mad pair also have shared ownership of Moskito Island, in the British Virgin Islands, and back in Toronto, they preside over a stately estate that’s across the road from Conrad Black, kitty-corner from Gordon Lightfoot and just three driveway gates down from Drake’s behemoth chateau.
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Image Credit: Scott Collier