Meet Lord Gregorious, a 76-year-old Dutchman who has single-handedly built a five-storey Roman-style castle in his back garden, complete with knights, damsels and a shimmering dragon fashioned from recycled metal. The towers of the Olt Stoutenburght Castle (“Old Naughty Citadel”) rise unexpectedly from the flat fields around the tiny village of Blesdijke in the northern Dutch countryside. The pensioner, real name Gerry Halman, has spent 34 years on his labour of love, painstakingly sourcing materials from dozens of countries, drawing inspiration from China, the Roman Empire and ancient Egypt.
“One morning in 1990, I said to my wife, ‘I’m ready. I have a complete picture. I know what the building looks like, from the bottom to the flag’,” the moustachioed Halman said, resplendent in a jaunty fur hat.
Since then, constructing and furnishing the castle has been his “passion”, travelling all over the world to source materials that do justice to his vision. Above the vaunted main hall hangs a metal chandelier from Istanbul and ornate Jugendstil iron railings from Libya. Halman in his Olt Stoutenburght Castle that he single-handedly built.
The room is equipped with a wooden bar taken from the Orient Express dining wagon, embossed with signs entreating gentlemen not to urinate on the floor. Hundreds of books about art and history adorn the walls of the library, with a duelling pistol and Indonesian ritual suicide dagger strewn casually across the desk. For 35 years.