Riverstone Castle is built tough enough to withstand dragon fire and strong enough to hold back hordes of northern invaders.
These are not the flowery claims of a new North Otago fairy tale: they have been confirmed in its just-received Ye Olde Code of Compliance.
The tongue-in-cheek variation to a regular compliance certificate was presented to Dot and Neil Smith at a ceremony at their castle yesterday.
As Waitaki district councillor Bill Kingan played the bagpipes, Mayor Gary Kircher confirmed the region’s only castle was built to last.
Its building work was not merely ‘‘compliant’’ — according to the certificate, it was ‘‘judged fit to withstand skirmishes, raids by North men, and dragon fire’’.
Mrs Smith now had her own castle in which to live happily ever after, ‘‘ just like any good fairy tale,’’ Mr Kircher said.
Mrs Smith described the 11 years from inception to completion of her castle as ‘‘a journey’’ and said she was not finished yet.
A drawbridge and wheelchair-accessible cottage were to come before she could tick the job off as complete.
Council building services manager Roger Cook said his team completed about 55 inspections at the site, with structural and mechanical engineers completing construction and monitoring inspections as well.
‘‘The build used a lot of very competent and efficient local tradespeople, which was good for the community and made our inspections easy to complete,’’ he said.
The Smiths worked closely with Wanaka architect Sarah Scott, of Condon Scott Architects.
Riverstone Castle was her ‘‘first and only’’ castle and the experience was incredible, she said.
‘‘I have had the privilege of working next to two of the most remarkable people,’’ she said of the Smiths.
‘‘They are the hardest working people I’ve ever met. They work 12 hours a day, seven days a week.’’
Mrs Smith said the build was exciting right to the end.
‘‘It’s not a project where you would ever have known what’s going to happen next,’’ she said.
‘‘It was a huge project and we were very lucky to have the people we did to put things into place.’’
Mr Kircher congratulated the Smiths for ‘‘accomplishing something that many others would never think possible, and for building what has already become a Waitaki icon.’’
- Ashley Smyth
