Visit to Salgovce
(made famous by the Chanel 4 TV series 'Chaos at Chateau')
In August 2007 I visited the Czech Republic and spent a week in my old home town Kromeriz. As it is located near the Slovakian border I decided to pay a visit to Salgovce and say hello to Ann and David Darrell whose ambitious adventure to buy and convert an old castle to a boutique hotel was serialized in many TV episodes on Channel 4.
My brother Jara asked his friend Dr Kremecek to drive us to Salgovce via Piestany. We got to Piestany without any problem, but after Piestany, without a proper map, it was a near impossible task to find the place. Even local people had no idea where Salgovce was. After many reverses and turns we eventually found the place. As we approached the castle I recognized some features but it was not the familiar view I knew from the television. TV viewers were always shown the castle from the back where the garden is.
On our arrival we were greeted by two very pretty girls at the reception and by omnipresent waiter Marek. Unfortunately, David was doing his taxi duty - picking up some English guests from the Bratislava airport and Ann was busy either in the office or in the kitchen. We asked Marek whether it would be possible to have some lunch. He went to ask Ann who appeared to greet us and offered us a good selection to choose from. We opted for a vegetable soup followed by a roasted chicken with sauté potatoes. Ann cooked it for us and it was mouth-watering. Every ingredient was home grown and Ann's baked bread was delicious.
While we were lunching David arrived with a few guests and later joined us at the table. I told him to put up a sign so that drivers can find the castle but apparently he is not allowed to do that for various bureaucratic reasons. I really felt sorry for Ann and David when I heard the stories how difficult it is to deal with the local authorities. I happen to work for the Czech Embassy in London and often go the Slovak embassy functions as well, so with my networking contacts I promised Darrells to help them as much as I can.
Generally, the atmosphere around and inside the castle is magnificent. One girl gave us a guided tour so we saw a splendid downstairs toilets, a beautiful dining room with lots of candles around, and the ceiling above had still the original painting - untouched. Then we went upstairs, walked on amazing dark red carpets and visited the beauty salon. Because of the guests in the castle we could not see the bedrooms.
I made one observation - whether it's the air, the atmosphere or the beauty salon - but Ann looked astonishingly good. During our stay she was very vivacious, attentive and made us very relaxed. In 2008 my wife and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and I cannot think of better place to do our celebrations. Her brother Ben and his wife will also be celebrating 30th anniversary, and to top it, my eldest brother will be married 50 years a year after our big celebration. So it looks like Ann and David will have three happy couples staying in the Chateau one day.
As we were saying good byes and hurried to the car Ann suddenly remembered something, rushed back to the castle and brought me a lovely candle with the Chateau emblem on it - a present for my wife.
The day in Salgovce was really my highlight of the week in the old country and I cannot wait to be back in the castle again.
