Meet the person who lives alone in Scotland’s costliest fortress

With its fairytale castle facade and immaculately manicured grounds, it looks like the setting for lavish Bridgerton-style parties. But at the centre of a vast swirl of opulently decorated rooms and grand staircases sits a lone man eating dumplings.

Despite the property’s huge scale, David Fam bought Seton Castle to live in alone after setting his heart on residing in a Scottish castle.

He has had his pick of 13 bedrooms to sleep in, five bathrooms to wash in and countless lounges, drawing rooms and reception rooms across the castle’s 18,196 square feet of floor space.

But now, after two years of living in this magnificent 18th Century castle which requires a small army of staff to maintain, Mr Fam is selling up.

An £8 million price tag makes Seton Castle the most expensive residential property in Scotland, but Mr Fam says it is worth every penny.

Sitting in one of the sumptuous reception rooms, filled with artwork, a sparkling glass chandelier and a grand piano, Mr Fam speaks fondly of how he came to own the castle near Longniddry, East Lothian.

He said: ‘It was love at first sight when I saw it. When I walked through the door my face couldn’t hide how I felt.

‘My jaw hit the floor. It’s a beautiful home and I feel very lucky to own it.

‘I’m not a cook so the night I moved in I celebrated by going to the Asian supermarket and buying an air fryer, rice machine and some frozen dumplings. Now the time has come for another family to enjoy it.’

Although he has lived in the castle alone, the property requires a management team of cleaners, caretakers and groundskeepers, who busy themselves every day with tasks which include cleaning the chandeliers. 

The staff, says Mr Fam, are willing to remain in their posts if the next owner requires them.

But it is with a heavy heart that he is now selling up, as business commitments in London mean that he cannot spend as much time as he wants to at the castle.

The son of Vietnamese immigrants, Mr Fam was raised in Australia before qualifying as a lawyer and setting up a firm with his brother.

As a lover of Scotland, Mr Fam participated in a week-long seminar held by businessman Daniel Pena at his home in Guthrie Castle, Angus, which inspired him to buy his own.

Mr Fam said: ‘Living in a castle is ingrained in us from Disney and Hollywood – and I feel very lucky.

‘After staying in Guthrie Castle, this was the first one I saw. I didn’t shop around – it was easy to fall in love with it.

‘I think I probably watched too much [TV series] Bridgerton and was trying to emulate Dan’s life.

‘The first time I visited him at his castle in 2020, I took a video and sent it to my friend and said, ‘Check this out’. Three days later I was staying in Edinburgh and was still on Australian time, so at 3am my friend sent me a website with castles for sale.

‘I clicked on Scotland and went through the list and saw Seton. I fell in love with it there and then.’

Mr Fam immediately got in his hire car and tried to find it but in the dark of the early hours he wasn’t able to see the black gated entrance leading to the 13 acres of land.

Instead, he later chartered a helicopter and visited Seton with estate agent James Whitson, who was selling the property.

Mr Fam said: ‘I knew then I was going to live in the house. I went into the dining room first, it’s like something out of Beauty and the Beast.’

Designed by classical architect Robert Adam, the Georgian house and estate was previously owned by the Wemyss family for more than a century.

It stands on the site of Seton Palace, the historical seat of the Earls of Winton, where Mary, Queen of Scots is known to have stayed.

It was extensively refurbished by an Edinburgh businessman who put it on the market for £15 million in the mid-2000s, hoping to attract an overseas buyer.

The asking price was cut to a still record sum of £5 million after a few years, when it was bought by web tycoons Steve Leach and his wife Heather Luscombe.

The couple, who had recently sold their internet search engine firm for £41 million, carried out costly renovation work over the next decade before putting it on the market again in 2019 to move abroad.

Although there are several bedrooms to choose from, Mr Fam only ever sleeps in one of them, where he soaks in the surroundings. He said: ‘The way the sun sets outside the master bedroom, that’s the room I love. You pinch yourself. It’s a beautiful view.’

Meanwhile, the main house and two additional wings are decorated to the highest standard, thanks to the previous owners.

Mr Fam said: ‘I can’t take credit for the decor, it’s walk-in condition and very well taken care of. I am a developer and thought I’d never have to do that again in my life, I’ve had to do that with a hotel that I bought, but not here.

‘There’s a caretaker and grounds team who look after the house and outside area and they always keep it looking immaculate.’

Although he doesn’t cook – instead relying on his gadgets – he enjoys meals in the dining room that looks on to the helipad.

It has distinctive velvet seats, similar to those in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and a clock that resembles Cogsworth in the children’s movie.

On the lowest level alongside the kitchen is the billiards room complete with drinks trolley, another of the rooms which Mr Fam enjoys using. He said: ‘I’ve had some great sessions playing pool in there.

‘There’s speakers in the ceilings and sometimes I play the Braveheart soundtrack.’

Along the corridor is a wine cellar – and only recently he found himself giving away bottles from it when two unsuspecting girls made their way into his house, not realising that it was private.

He said: ‘I saw them outside the other day and asked where they were going and they said, ‘To the museum’.

‘Firstly I wondered how they got past the gates, then I told them that it was actually my house.

‘They asked if they could see around it so I let them in and gave them a tour then sent them off with a couple of bottles of wine – I don’t drink much any more.’

Staircases are behind the most unexpected doors – to a bathroom on the ground floor built within the original foundations of Seton Palace, from the bar up to the cinema room, and within the two additional wings of the house.

And with private grounds guarded by a gated entrance, neighbours will never be a problem.

Mr Fam said: ‘That’s one of the great joys of this place, you can pump your music up as loud as you want. Run around, chant – do whatever.’

Despite its enormous size, the castle has a homely feel. Mr Fam even had the estate agent bring him back after dark to make sure he didn’t feel uneasy in the house on his own.

He said: ‘I was worried that, being such a big house, it would feel eerie so I had James drive me back at night time. I sat in every single room and immediately I felt at home. I had never felt such energetic peace.’