Over 30 years ago when I first visited the Eastern Free State, I was intrigued by a Medieval castle that stood at the edge of a sandstone cliff on the top of a remote mountain like the prow of a ship. Hewn out of the native sandstone, it blended in with it's base and it took a moment or two for one to recognise the turret with it's crenellations and realise that it was man made. The story went that the man who had planned and built it had run out of money so it stood half finished, a monument to a romantic dream. It was only accessible to hikers and there were tales of a stairway that led to nowhere and arched windows that had never been glazed.
A couple of years ago a rumour went around that it had been bought and was to be finished. There was great interest. In September of last year late one Sunday afternoon we went up a very rough road that had been dug into the side of the mountain and ended up on top of the world with this dark castle silhouetted against the setting sun. There were wheelbarrows, planks chips of sandstone and all the detritus of building lying around, but the shell was there and we scrambled around in awe, standing on the top parapet and looking at the 360° view of the mountains of the Witteberge and the Malutis all around us.

I was asked to photograph it in May by the new owner Mike Fogg and the change was remarkable. It has been a long journey but the Destiny Castle is going to be one of the exciting destinations in South Africa.