SYWBC Poll #1 results:

Here are the results of the poll, I figure it was a little biased on account folks visiting the site are interested in DIY castles or at least castles in general. There are some new polls up, vote if you wish!

Do you:

Want to build a castle someday?

250 (83%)

Want to buy a castle, old or new?

34 (11%)

Already live in one you've built?

11 (3%)

Think building castles is a silly idea?

5 (1%)



Votes so far: 300
Poll closed

I'm curious about the 11 folks that voted they live in a castle they've already built!

Mother Earth News

I've mentioned this magazine on the site before as a source of information. To the point: It has nothing to do with castles, but it does with some of the things that one could surround one with. Yeah it's a crunchy-granola magazine and there are some ads for cure-all herbal remedies and positively charged water (which may or may not be something you're into), but overall it's a good source of DIY everything. Considering that we'd like to have our home off the beaten path a little bit, not in the hinterlands mind you but with a little land and peace around it, so we can grow some of our own food and the like. So far it's had fascinating articles on how to make your own cheese from store bought milk and some good gardening information, all budget-oriented. Plus, as I've mentioned before, the website has information and stories about those who have "chucked it all" and moved out of the city and pursued alternative building methods from slipform to adobe. A lot of the articles on DIY information is unapologetically and without ado geared towards low-cost.

So, while it isn't strictly construction oriented, some of the readers here that prefer to be off the beaten path (or even those not) may appreciate the home-grown DIY information that can save you more than the $10 a year subscription.

We spent our hard earned $10 and honestly enjoyed every magazine. Looking at trying the home-made mozzarella with our container-garden-grown tomatoes and basil for an all home-made home-grown caprese salad.

Mother Earth News

Google Groups

Well, the castle-builders forum Google Group is pretty quiet. I just stopped by to have a look and realized that the place was being hit by porn spammers. Unfortunately this means that any/all comments will now be moderated for the group, not that there are any! :)

Kasteel Noz Castle

Kasteel Noz is located in Snelling, California.


I know nothing more than what is in this article, and there are several articles on the web featuring this picture and information, but it's great to find another owner-built castle being built. I'll add this to the "need to contact" list of castle builders.

EDIT: I've searched like crazy, even using Google Maps satellite view to try to get more information on this castle. No luck. I'll wait until he makes his information public.

EDIT 05/09: I have received some anonymous comments regarding Kasteel Noz here on the blog, though I am unwilling to post them in their entirety because they possibly contain a legitimate phone number and email information for Mr. Noz and I don't think I have the authority or permission to post someone else's personal data here. What I can do is post a link to the new Kasteel Noz website and allow readers to get contact information there directly from the source. Also, thanks to some other comments that pointed out the Kasteel Noz site, I have sent an email to Mr. Noz in the hopes of getting an interview with him regarding his castle. If that request bears fruit, it will appear on the front page and a line will be placed here to it.

Newman's castle

Newman's Castle in Texas.

I have very little information about this castle other than it is in Texas. I found this slideshow on one of my searches, but I haven't dug any deeper to see if the castle has a website. The castle looks like it is completely built of CMU, and could be owner-built. Will post more info if I can find it.

EDIT: I've exhaustively searched the web for more information, and there's nothing out there other than the bakery associated with the owner. While I'd like to find out more about his castle, I'm not willing to be a castle-owner stalker and call his bakery and try to get in touch with him. As with Noz's castle, I'll just have to wait until they go public.

Update:  You can visit Newman's Castle by seeing a show called "Murder By Chocolate", a dinner theater. Thanks to SYWBC reader Michelle for pointing this out.