An impressive achievement. Larnach Castle includes 14 ha of grounds—although that is paltry compared with the 250 ha that Larnach himself once owned. Larnach, who married a French heiress with a dowry of 85,000 pounds, commenced his great mansion—the peninsula’s most fa­mous building—in 1871, but it was not completed for 15 years. The final cost was estimated at 125,000 pounds (in an era when wages were a shilling a day) and it was con­structed from the finest imported materials. In its heyday, 46 servants were employed about its 40,000 square feet.