Catherine Zawadski, 89, upped sticks because 52-room Balfour Castle on tiny isle Shapinsay, near Orkney, was “a bit too much to manage”.

The Polish Army captain’s widow was last night settling in to a drab, grey £280,000 four-bedroom house in Kirkwall, Orkney, after almost 50 years in her grand home.
Last night one stunned local said: “She can still see the castle from her new garden — but I am not sure if that is more of a curse than a blessing.”

Mrs Zawadski was unavailable for comment. But her son Richard has admitted: “We are selling because it’s a bit too much to manage.”