Well, why don't you start, Devin? Though I am going to guess it's Sela & Egelric's cottage.

I will have to think about the question, hmm...

I suspected that someone would say Nothelm. So much has happened there, and it was the coolest-looking of my first generation of castles, I think. It's also currently the nicest on the outside, as seen in the classic "Ethelwyn does not make it back to the hall".

The gallery scene you're thinking of is in Sigefrith's castle, if you mean "The girls engage in idle talk". (Also the first appearance of Father Aelfden.)

Brede's manor does have a gallery, however -- we saw Eirik on it once in "Brede and Eirik have good news".

I still have no answer to Devin's question though. My favorite house/castle is usually whichever one I am working on at the moment. I think Cian's castle is the coolest so far, even in its ruined state. I am also quite fond of Eirik's stone keep... it's the only one that is complete inside and out. And Selwyn's small manor house is pretty sweet.

Oh, and I'm also proud of the fortified manor at Hwitsands, where Eirik had a strange encounter in "Eirik is visited by a rat". Naturally we will be seeing that one again.

I know, François, you have no idea what I'm talking about, but that's another incentive to keep reading.

Oh! And the castle at Dublin is very cool also, inside and out. It too is complete on the outside. But we haven't even been to Dublin yet. So you all have to keep reading.

I intend to give tours of all the important castles and houses sooner or later, but with the rate at which the story is progressing lately, I am afraid it will be later for most of them. My priority had better be the story. Also there is the problem that (with the exception of a few of the ones above) I usually never finish a castle or even a house... I add & decorate rooms as I go, as needed for the story. But some of them are worth showing. I still need to finish the tour of Egelric's castle, don't I?

Eirik's keep and Chapel of St. Brendan the NavigatorSelwyn's Manor

Wow how long did it take you to build Selwyn's cottage?

I managed to get Egelric's cottage looking much like it was in the woods, which I have rarely succeeded in doing before or since. Trees are just so short in the game, it's hard to make a convincing forest. (Still resisting the call of Bon Voyage...) So I really liked that about that house. It did make it seem cozy. I was trying to get the same effect with Osh's house today, and failing spectacularly.

I don't have any pictures of Aengus's manor aside from what we've seen in stories. It's only half-finished from the outside. I do have the original sketched plan for it somewhere, from back when I was still drawing houses on graph paper. I should try to find it and scan that in at least... you could see what the house is supposed to look like when it's done.

Leofric's castle -- like SIgefrith's, Cenwulf's, and Theobalds -- is currently being completely rebuilt from scratch on a new lot. However, I am attempting to put all of the rooms we know back into the new castle so that the difference won't be so noticeable. There will definitely be a room very much like Leila's old room, as identical as I can make it. Maybe as her girls get older we will start seeing it. (Raegan and Liss are sleeping in it now.)

Here's the working plan of the 2nd story of Raegiming. You can see rooms we know, such as the chapel gallery where Alred and Eadie talked in "Alred is a handsome surprise", and where Lady Eadgith sat in "Lady Eadgith's heaven's are clouded, as well as the hallway leading out of it where she met Leila in the same chapter.

And of course Leila's room which we have seen many times, and Leofric's bedroom which we have seen a few times, such as in "Her cousin tells these tidings".

The hall in that plan is the Great Hall which we have (conveniently...) never seen. The hall we know is beneath Cedric and Leia's rooms.

Uh, what was I going to say? I had better get back to my chapter.

Raegiming plan, second story

Caedwulf already has Maud's old room, and I certainly won't forget it, since it's very important to him. I don't know about "Cecil" though. You do realize that it's "Cecily" and that she's a girl, don't you?

Hmmm... that's a tough one but I think I would have to say Paul and Cat's house. I really love the elven feel to it and I love all the painting that Osh has done, how every room tells a different story. I think I loved it even from the very begin when we saw the frame in the distance being built. It looks beautiful from the inside looking out and from the outside too (I'm thinking of the post where Paul and Vash sat on the front steps together.

But there are so many others to love too, and I am already fond of the menacing looking barn that Osh and Flann will move into. Oh... and I love the monastery.

I am in the process tonight of building my first castle. Well I built it before but it was too big (and I wanted to build it on the new island BV lot), and I also want it to be changing throughout the story so at the moment it is bits and pieces of walls and some temporary thatched roofs with lots of dirt and chickens running around. But I am so excited! I can't wait to use it and you guys will be seeing it in the next post I think (or at least the one after that).

My favorite house is the house that Alwy built as a surprise for Gunnie. I love that house because it demonstrated how the family was growing prosperous as it was also growing in size and also because it was such a labor of love.

Thank you, Cearbhaill! I had forgotten about that house... it did seem like the loveliest, homey-est place to visit while the Little Mother was still there. One of my favorite chapters is still "Sir Sigefrith offers to help", where he takes Haakon and the Old Man up to go sledding with Heafoc. (The beginnings of a beautiful friendship between the three. ) The snack of bread and "good jam", and the Old Man lecturing the Little Mother about how he's not to be called an angel, and the Little Mother and Sigefrith teasing each other... more than many chapters, it really makes me wish I could be there.

I agree with the comments about Paul's house, too. It's a nice blend of (16th century ) English and elven. We have seen practically every angle and every room in that house, too... from the back while it was being built, the side step, from the front, and inside we've seen the entry, the front hall, the back hall, the dining hall, the old dining room, Eithne's/Lasrua's bedroom (formerly Paul and Cat's), Paul and Cat's new room, Osh's room, Lasrua's little room (formerly a maid's), Flann's room, Lena's room and even the upstairs hallway.

Now you can see why I don't just build one-room "sets", but build (or at least design) the entire house... I need all the rooms to connect together in a logical way, or my brain just cannot write about it in a logical way.

François, I would love to show Aed's castle, now that I've started showing places outside of the valley, but I just cannot think of an excuse to go there. Not that I have built it yet... I won't build it until I do. I think you mostly just want an excuse to see The Bearded One in the flesh, though.

Paul's House - original plan

I am getting so sick of my one room sets! I just want everyone off the boat dammit. It is so boring with these stupid wooden rooms. But next post will be set in the beginnings of the castle hurrah! I spent this evening taking the pics so hopefully will get to write it up on Friday (tomorrow is Valentine's so I'm actually going out to dinner!). But Mhalwae is moving into such an exciting phase. And some people are now living at the castle... there are some guards living in the barracks there and then a few peasant families (including the Cades... Hepsie and Steen's house isn't done yet) since a lot of the peasants were rather crowded in. The ones we saw were quite lucky to have there own rooms. Anyway... enough about Mhalwae. But I do agree with you... much better to have a whole house... otherwise it is too hard to get your head around it. It was easy with the ship... wooden rooms and then the outside set but now things get more complicated as ppl move out

Well Verity Lothere started out with wooden rooms in the early years of Lothere.

Matilda is avaliable; I'm not considering Aia since I want her to marry someone who is at-least rich.

You can still do more with Matilda after the baby is born, its too early to kill her off Meryt!!

I would say "Just go for it!" though if I think about how much time I spend just creating Sims and building lots, and then how much time it takes to shoot pictures for a chapter (an hour at least, but then my computer is crawlingly slow)... even before I get to writing... I don't really want to condemn anyone to that unless you have absolutely nothing to do with your time.

However I only got over my fear of failing at poetry by forcing myself to write a poem (however bad, and some of them are atrocious) every day for 365 days, and the entire reason I started this Lothere story was to liberate myself from my anal-retentive perfectionism when it comes to historical writing. I never wrote anything because I spent all my time researching everything. The merest anachronism would have stopped me in my tracks. When I started this story I gave myself permission to make a silly mess, so long as it was fun. The houses and clothes are way out of period, for example, but even if they get better as I progress, what am I going to do? Delete all the old chapters? Delete all the old chapters because the writing is so bad? No! I have permission! *flashes permission slip*

I know that sharing your writing is pretty much like zipping open your chest and saying to the Internet, "Here is my beating heart, please don't poke sharp, pointy things into it" but I have never regretted it. It has been fun with everyone's participation, and even if the writing still sucks, at least I have attained a lesser level of suck.

So my advice (which you didn't ask for, but hey, it's the Grand Marnier talking) is just go for it! after all. And don't worry if it's flawed, and don't worry if you have a plumb bob showing now and then. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, grasshopper.

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Egelric and Sela's cottage is still my favorite Lotherian Home. I have a feeling that I'm going to really like Osh's house soon as it'c completed. Its a shame that Paul and Cat's beautiful house is gone because of that psycho. I don't think Paul and Cat want to live there again after Lena dying in it.