The landmark Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland is on the market for the fourth time in eight years at offers over £5 million.
The surprise moves comes just days after its owner launched an exclusive club for women leaders at the historic property.
London barrister Samantha Kane bought the castle in 2022 for the reduced price of over £1.2 million.
It was previously for sale at £1.5 million, but a deal fell through.
Castle built for a duchess
She then started an ambitious £10 million plan to recreate the castle in the style of Mary Caroline, Duchess of Sutherland, who had Carbisdale built between 1905 and 1917.
Ms Kane, who took the name Lady Carbisdale, said at the time the purchase was spontaneous after becoming “overwhelmed” by the building.
She saw the project as her legacy and even picked out a spot inside the castle where she was to be buried.
She said she also wanted to support the local, regional and Scottish economy and to be a useful part of the community.
Carbisdale Castle boasts 23 ensuite bedrooms, with views from each of its 365 windows and its own private loch.
Plans included creating a new library as part of a castle museum.
A new whisky was launched and there were plans for a distillery in the castle grounds.
There were also propsals for ecotourism off-grid huts and an attraction inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Private member’s club
This year Lady Carbisdale launched a private members’ club to lure international guests and events to the venue.
The venture targeted high-spending corporate groups, luxury travellers and celebrities.
The Carbisdale Club planned to host corporate events and meetings as well as “fairy tale” weddings.
Income would help fund the ongoing restoration and upkeep of the building which costs around £1 million a year to run.
Earlier this month, Lady Carbisdale unveiled what she described as the “world’s first exclusive membership club for women leaders”.
She said the Duchess Club is a “living manifestation of female-empowerment”.
Lady Carbisdale likened herself to the original owner who, she said, had got the castle “despite everybody who wanted to bring her down”.
Launching the Duchess Club, she said she had suffered from the prejudices of others, including gender discrimination “and a host of other biases levelled against women, which slowed down the process to start the club”.
Mass resignations from community council
Samantha was born Sam Hashimi, who moved to Britain from Iraq as a student and later made a fortune as investment head of a Saudi-owned company.
Last year she accused some local people of making racist and homophobic remarks to her.
An extraordinary general meeting in November of Ardgay and District Community Council, of which she was vice chair, led to confrontations and police being called.
The meeting was called to discuss Lady Carbisdale’s plans to buy a seven-acre plot near the castle.
Ahead of a follow-up meeting in February, mass resignations left her as the only member of the community council which went into abeyance.
In May, Lady Carbisdale started legal action against SSEN to try to prevent a major power line coming close to Carbisdale Castle.
She sought an interdict to stop pylons being built “within the setting of the castle and its loch”.
She said the line would threaten her renovation project and cause “serious nuisance and harm”.
Carbisdale Castle was a wartime refuge and a youth hostel
Carbisdale Castle was bought in 1933 by Colonel Theodore Salvesen, a Scottish businessman of Norwegian extraction.
He offered it as a safe refuge for King Haakon VII of Norway and Crown Prince Olav, during the Nazi occupation of Norway during the Second World War.
After Col Salvesen died his son, Captain Harold Salvesen, inherited the castle.
He later gave it to the Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA). It remained a hostel for more than 60 years.
Between 2012 and 2014 the SYHA spent around £2 million on the building but eventually maintaining it became untenable.
It was bought in 2016 but plans to create a private residence did not proceed.
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