Baronial dreams

Castle Drogo, Devon, part I A property of the National Trust In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet reveals how a fascination with ancestry encouraged a wealthy Edwardian businessman to enlist the help of Sir Edwin Lutyens to build a new castle

- Clive Aslet

ON a sunny spring day, Castle Drogo, on its bluff overlooking the wilds of Dartmoor, could fairly be described as sparkling. Cut in granite, not only do the complex angles of the stone remain as sharp as when the masons shaped them 100 years ago, but the whole building has recently changed colour, a result of the National Trust’s newly completed nineyear restoration programme. Before, a cen- tury of exposure to the elements had turned the exterior a dark and gloomy grey with lichen. Now that the lichen has been removed, we see the beauty of the material as Sir Edwin Lutyens intended—blocks of subtly varying shades, predominantly silvery grey, but scattered with accents of brown, charcoal and pink. The lichen will return, but, for the time being, it is possible to see this gargantuan Edwardian caprice with the eyes of its first owner, Julius Drewe. He wanted a castle and he got one that is also a work of exceptional refinement and beauty.