Hatley Castle in winter times

Every now and then I get to go inside Hatley Castle for some meeting or other.  And there is always something new to discover as this house has plenty of rooms - many are used as offices, some are locked up and only showed during tours.  And yes, the best part of having a new employee orientation on Friday morning at 8.30 the day before Christmas break was indeed a tour of the castle.  Didnt take any pictures then - so you all have to come visit and see for yourself (tours are free for staff and their families).  

 The pink fireplace was one of the girls rooms.  The Dunsmuirs has 8 daughters - only two got to have pink fireplaces in their bedrooms...  The view is amazing too - but now it is just decoration for a meeting room...  Silke, ich weiß - genau so einen hätte Deine Villa auch!  Mindestens in JEDEM Zimmer... ;)

 As part of the Christmas staff sale at the gift shop they had a raffle - and I won!  Might have something to do with having the same first name as the shopkeeper - but who cares!  I got this keeping cold drinks cold bottle - which I guess comes in handy in the summer!  And all that for just buying a few postcards...

 The architect of Hatley Castle was given particular instructions that the huge fireplace is the first thing for people to see as they come in the door - to be wowed.  The fireplace is still used on a regular basis and apparently does nothing for warming up the house - but burns through wood like there is no tomorrow.  All part of the design and a symbol of the richest family in BC not having a care in the world about money.  At the time.
Similarly the other side of the entry hall was designed to host a huge christmas tree and actually a little balcony for the choir...  All amazingly beautiful and most bits and pieces you see are actually still original (that would be the windows and lamps and stuff - not the christmas decorations...)

 And this is what it looks like when it snows here.  A little dusting...  And it was all gone within the hour.  Not much really, but then again I was told that it NEVER really snows here in Victoria....