Ceilidh at the Castle

Recently I heard about this place called Cherokee Ranch and Castle. It’s in Douglas County, near Castle Rock. I thought it must be a new place, since I hadn’t heard of it before.

It’s called a hidden gem for a reason. It’s too well hidden! The gem of it is this place hosts a wide variety of events.Sure, it’s a great site if you’re looking for a wedding venue. They also hold afternoon tea – with a view of CO’s mountains, an elk herd, even downtown Denver! The castle hosts theatre productions, jazz and classical concerts, international cultural events, scotch and whiskey tastings, literary presentations, and environmental education.

The castle itself is fascinating – it’s like a museum, with many ancient artifacts. They even have something dated before Christ’s era! Many of the furnishings were similar to what I’ve seen in European castles. I was expecting something much less impressive. What a lovely surprise! My favorite aspect of the architecture is that the structure incorporates a lot of petrified wood from the property, including the top of this archway.

My first visit to the castle was for “Ceilidh at the Castle” – a ceilidh is a Gaelic social dance. It was too hot to wear kilts, but this castle was a great setting for this party! The castle was designed to mimic European castles. The evening started with a mini-tour of the castle and a Scottish-themed buffet, followed by a brief talk and single-malt Scotch tasting. (I learned that adding water to Scotch is not only totally acceptable, it means I can taste some of what I’m supposed to taste, rather than having the alcohol burn my tongue!) The entertainment portion of the evening was two-fold. A highland dance demonstration was enhanced by a short history and description of each dance. I’m sure the angry Irish housewife dance would have been interesting on its own, with the ladies shaking their fists and looking angry, but story made the dance moves and costumes make ever so much better sense! Dance was followed by music performed by Canned Haggis. I really enjoyed the mix of bagpipes, pub songs, jigs and reels!

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