“I rebuilt a ruined castle”

Fast forward two decades, and Richard had fulfilled another of his early dreams — to become an airline pilot, first with the fledgling Ryanair and then with British Airways, which took him to Surrey.

But the original childhood dream refused to fade — and with it came the need to earn serious money to pay for the project. “I had to figure out a way to earn money to restore the old place, so I started a property business specialising in