The city of Regina is the location of a surprising building, Stone Hall Castle which is Canada’s only medieval castle.
Tonight I had a date with the owner of Stone Hall Castle, former professional ice hockey player, Jason Hall who now called this place home. What, you don’t believe that I had a date with a handsome, rich, professional athlete who lives in his own castle?
Obviously, of course I didn’t! Well it wasn’t a date in the conventional sense of the word. Or indeed, in any sense of the word at all. It was actually a personal guided tour. So I’ll now give you an accurate account of my evening and leave any fictional embellishments firmly in my imagination where they belong!
I’d found Stone Hall Castle online. You could take a guided tour of the castle in the afternoon or the evening. You could also stay at the castle overnight. But although you could stay at the castle, this wasn’t a hotel in the conventional sense of the word either. The owner lives in Stone Hall Castle and there are only a couple of rooms available to stay in. At around £900 per night, it was well out of my price range and apparently the price range of most other people too, as Jason said he didn’t have a lot of people staying, that wasn’t his main source of income.
If I had lots of money I would have treated myself to a couple of nights there, it was in a great location in the city centre, right by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. And who hasn’t dreamt about sleeping in a medieval castle? As it was, I settled for a bed and breakfast round the corner and a tour of Stone Hall Castle instead.
I did think that Stone Hall Castle was a traditional hotel as I’d found the rooms available on the internet and as I walked up to it, I expected the door to be open and there to be a reception. However, on arrival the front door was locked.
From the outside, Stone Hall Castle doesn’t look like a medieval castle, for a very good reason. It wasn’t built during medieval times. It’s in Canada, no one was building castles in Canada in the Middle Ages. It’s only once you get inside that the magic begins.
I’d booked my tour for the evening online, which was the only way available for me to book, as it wasn’t a hotel with a reception I could walk into which would have enabled me to make enquiries.
I stood on the steps by the door of the castle waiting. No one else was around. I’d only booked my tour that afternoon, I was concerned that the booking hadn’t gone through and that there was no tour tonight after all. However, at exactly 7 o’clock the front door opened and the owner of Stone Hall Castle opened the door.
Once you step into the hallway of the castle, you are transported into a medieval world. Forget about the world outside, once that door closes you could be in a castle in England in the 15th century. This certainly does look like a medieval castle.
Jason told me I was the only person who had booked the tour that evening and so I was getting a personal guided tour, which was rare, it was apparently only about the third one he had done. He explained that he’d been a professional ice hockey player in the German leagues from the late 1980s for about a decade, had then returned to Canada, invested in real estate and finally bought Stone Hall Castle when it came up for sale and turned it into Canada’s only medieval castle. He had genuine European antique furniture and paintings that he’d purchased at auctions and the result was an interior that was a cohesive replica of a medieval dwelling fit for nobility, even down to the wax candles that lit the rooms with wax dripping all over the floors. It did also have a few things that medieval English kings wouldn’t have had the benefit of, such as electricity and modern plumbing, which meant it was possible to have a wide screen television and a spa bath!
The history of the castle was an interesting one. It was constructed in 1926 and the story reminded me of the reason for the construction of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley, all because of a woman. Our demand for high standards meant Scotty’s Castle was constructed so Albert Johnson’s wife wouldn’t have to sleep in a tent in the desert.
The story Jason told me behind the construction of Stone Hall Castle was similar. Francis Darke’s wife was terrified of being killed in a tornado, so her husband built her a house that was strong enough to withstand the high winds and rains that could tear through the city, destroying its more flimsy buildings. Limestone was used to construct Stone Hall Castle and Annie Darke lived there in safety for almost 40 years until her death in the 1960s.
Following the death of Annie Darke, the castle was bought by a family who ran it as a funeral home. I know castles are supposed to be haunted, but perhaps that is taking things a little bit too far! For a long time no one thought about Stone Hall Castle as being a castle at all, it was simply a chapel of rest and funeral director’s premises in the city of Regina.
The building was purchased by Jason in 2003 and he decided to renovate the interior and turn it into a medieval castle inside. He’d spent time in Bavaria an area particularly rich in castles and palaces, I wrote about some of them in my posts on the fairytale castles of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
Jason said he did live in the castle so video wasn’t permitted, but I could take photos which was good. It was actually much better than I expected. But I’ll get to that later. He also said I wasn’t allowed to open drawers and wardrobes because it was his home. I presumed it had happened in the past which was the reason for implementing this rule, but it would never have occurred to me to do that anyway. Sometimes I wonder about people…
We started the tour on the ground floor. Jason certainly likes his wax candles. In the first room, there was a candelabra on the with wax dripping all over the floor. Jason said he was the one who cleaned up the wax, not a job I’d have liked very much. It must have been quite a task too, there were candelabras in most rooms. This first room was a reception room with a dining table, the table and chairs were antiques, above there was a balcony and the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were a typical style, like you would have had at a medieval banquet.
The library came next and the first thing I noticed, and that Jason also pointed out, was that there were no books in the library. He said he wanted to buy some antique books, but they were both ludicrously expensive and very rare, making it virtually impossible to fill a library, even a fairly modest sized one like this. In England I’m used to seeing old books in stately homes that have been in the family for centuries. However, the families don’t tend to auction their books and few old books would have existed in Canada, so they wouldn’t be easy to come by. I don’t know whether Jason will decide to leave the library without books or purchase some replicas, but it seems unlikely he’ll be able to stock Stone Hall Castle’s library in the same way as somewhere like Chatsworth House.
Nevertheless, I was enjoying my tour of the castle so far, I thought the bear skin rug was a nice twist, it was something that could have graced the floor of a medieval castle in England, but it was also a very Canadian animal, I’d had a close encounter with a black bear in Manitoba just two days before. Thankfully the bear was too interested in his Saskatoon berries to bother about me! Jason admitted he was quite scared of bears, as I recounted my adventure in Riding Mountain to him.
We then went into the cinema room and I settled on a comfortable sofa to watch a video about renting Stone Hall Castle for a special occasion or staying the night. It was something I would have loved to have done, but it was so expensive, unless I acquire a lot more money than I’ve got now, it wasn’t about to become a reality any time soon. The tours were the main business at Stone Hall Castle, events and overnight stays were more occasional. Something to bear in mind if I ever win the Euro Millions…
After watching the video the tour continued upstairs and this was where I got to see the bedroom suites.
The bedrooms were fitted out with antique furniture, including 16th century wooden framed beds from Europe that had been acquired at auction. The beds were covered with animal hides. I absolutely loved the bedroom suites.
In the first bedroom suite I asked Jason if he’d take a photo of me by the bed, assuring him I’d be careful not to touch it. Jason said I could lay on the bed if I wanted to. I was surprised. When you go in medieval castles and stately homes in England you can’t touch anything. Furniture is roped off and alarmed, it is strictly look but don’t touch. So being able to sit on this bed was completely alien to me.
The bathrooms have copper baths installed in them and Jason suggested I get into the bath for a photo. This was a first for me, clambering into a copper bath in a medieval suite to have my photo taken. It was something that I was never going to get the opportunity to do again, so I climbed in!
The second bedroom had another antique, wooden framed bed also covered with animal skins. I laid back in a relaxing pose on that bed too for more photos and being able to do that really set this tour apart. As I’ve said, being English, I’m so used to not being able to get close enough to an antique bed in an English castle for a decent photo, never mind being able to lay on it, that the opportunity to get great photos like this was a real treat.
There were plenty of paintings in the castle and these were all old paintings bought from European collections, dating back several hundred years. The fireplaces looked authentic. I was really enjoying looking around.
Stone Hall Castle also has a throne room with wooden thrones and again, I was permitted to sit on one of the antique thrones, like I was a queen, for more photos. I also sat at a desk in the room where as a queen I would have signed the death warrants! Probably the only thing I’d be interested in signing as a queen. I’d be like the madcap Queen Elizabeth I in Blackadder!
I have an interest in English history and enjoy watching historical documentaries, so Jason and I chatted at some length about the history of English monarchs. Obviously I learnt a lot of English history at school, and coupled with the reading I’ve done and the historical properties I’ve visited in England in my lifetime, I have a fairly extensive knowledge base, so it made for a really interesting conversation.
We ended by going to the top floor of the castle, to the Master Suite with another medieval wooden bed with animal furs covering it and a hot tub in the bathroom. I didn’t lay on this particular bed as this was the room Jason was using as his bedroom. I thought it would be inappropriate to lay on this bed for a photo, so I didn’t even ask.
The décor in Stone Hall Castle, the antique furniture, the candelabras with their candles dripping wax on the floor, the animal hides on the beds, copper baths, bear skin rugs, old portraits, suits of armour, everything in here makes you believe you are in a medieval castle and for an hour and a half you really can leave the outside world behind and indulge in the fantasy that you’re living as a noble in 15th century England. The fact that you can sit on the furniture rather than having to look at everything from behind ropes makes it a much more realistic experience, you’re completely transported into the past, you can genuinely believe in the fantasy, even if only for a short time.
Isn’t it every girl’s dream to live as a queen in a castle? Well for a while, on that Wednesday evening in Regina, I was living that dream.
My ultimate fantasy would be to wear a beautiful long dress, fit for a queen and spend a couple of nights at Stone Hall Castle. I think that fiction will also have to remain firmly in my imagination.
I would thoroughly recommend a tour of Stone Hall Castle. Seeing inside Canada’s only medieval castle is a unique experience. Jason is, quite rightly, very proud of what he’s done to Stone Hall Castle since he bought it and that’s easy to see in his enthusiastic tour presentation. It was a brilliant way for me to spend my last night in Canada. I can’t promise you’ll get a personal tour like I did, but you will have a fabulous time.
I travelled to Saskatchewan in mid July 2018.
Stone Hall Castle is located in Regina. Tours cost $30 CAD per adult. More details about Canada’s only medieval castle can be found on the Stone Hall Castle website.
I stayed at Dragon’s Nest Bed and Breakfast which is a 10 minute walk from Stone Hall Castle and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.
To read about more of the castles I’ve visited throughout the world, check out these posts.
Kronborg Castle in Denmark.
Helsingør – Hamlet’s Castle
King Ludwig II’s fantasy castles and palaces and related palaces in Bavaria.
Neuschwanstein Castle
Linderhof Palace
Palace of Herrenchiemsee
Schloss Nymphenburg and the Munich Residenz
Read more about my trip to Canada in the below posts
Canada: Points East Coastal Drive on Prince Edward Island
Canada: North Cape Coastal Trail Part 1
Canada: North Cape Coastal Trail Part 2
Canada: Charlottetown – Pocket Capital of Prince Edward Island
Canada: Cavendish and the Rotating House of North Rustico
Canada: Quebec – Waterfalls, Via Ferrata and A Religious Theme Park
