Plans for Scottish castle hotel crash

KENMORE, Scotland, April 11 (UPI) -- Plans to create a six-star hotel in a 19th-century Scottish castle that once hosted Queen Victoria have crashed with the development company.

The corporate restructuring company KPMG confirmed Friday that administrators for Taymouth Group now plan to put Taymouth Castle on the market, The Scotsman reported.

Taymouth Castle on the River Tay in Perthshire was completed in 1810 in Gothic style by the Fourth Earl of Breadalbane. Queen Victoria visited in 1842 on her first Scottish tour, spending four nights at the castle.

The Perth and Kinross Council approved ambitious plans in 2004 that included 75 hotel suites, separate lodges, an equestrian center and a spa. Construction work began in 2005 with the Taymouth Group reportedly spending millions of pounds just on the castle's 300 windows.

By the end of 2006, when construction was suspended, the project's future appeared murky.

Pete Wishart, who represents the area in Parliament, remains somewhat optimistic.

Despite this project facing an unfortunate chain of events and inopportune timing, the site remains a first-class opportunity," he told The Scotsman.