LOUDONVILLE – Stepping off the motor coach, the tour group found themselves on the grounds of a luxurious castle nestled in the woods of southern Ashland County.
“It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Dan Ward, one of the Ambassadair Travel tour participants. “It’s one of the few places that actually looks like the description.”
Tour leader Bob Blasius said Landoll’s Mohican Castle was an appealing stop to add to his Central Ohio Discovery tour because of the uniqueness of the property and the fact that the castle appeared on Hotel Hell with Gordon Ramsay in 2016.
“The setting is absolutely beautiful. It’s very peaceful,” Blasius said. “And we hear the food is outstanding.”
The group arrived on a Thursday afternoon and planned to have dinner on the property at Copper Mug Bar & Grill. They also scheduled a s’mores bar and wine station on the castle’s Wedding Terrace in the evening.
Landoll’s Mohican Castle has grown into far more than just a hotel, explained Georgia Kauffman, the castle’s director of sales and marketing.
Since the visit from Gordon Ramsay, the business has revamped its restaurant and added a range of events ranging from ghost walks to murder mystery dinners to live comedy shows. The castle is also growing as a destination for bus tour groups, corporate retreats, private parties and weddings. That’s where the castle’s latest expansion comes in.
Landoll’s is now booking guests in its new 14,000 square-foot building, the Stables. The addition of 14 new suites nearly doubles the property’s capacity from 69 overnight guests to 120, allowing the castle to accommodate groups of over 60 people for overnight stays, Kauffman said.
Seven king bed suites on the far side of the property overlook a gorge. The other seven suites each have two queen beds and have a view of the woods. All the rooms share an outdoor patio area.
Also new to the property this season is an outdoor pavilion, which Kauffman said has already proved popular among clients and guests.
Though the castle’s recent expansions were fueled by the exposure and advice from Ramsey’s show, General Manager Jimmy Landoll said growth at the property has long been his family’s vision.
“When the castle was designed, it was designed with 11 suites, but the infrastructure of the property was designed with 35 suites in mind,” Landoll said. “So our water system, our electrical needs, everything that’s here was designed with 35 suites in mind, because that was the growth plan.”
Landoll said the business was poised for expansion the same year its original restaurant burned down in 2008.
“That really through a kink in things,” he said. “It wasn’t until last year, or the year before maybe, we started to really recover from that.”
Landoll said he believes the Stables suites fill a void for the property, increasing capacity on busy summer weekends and attracting larger groups and weddings year-round.
“Sometimes we fill up on the weekends a month, two months, three months in advance, and then you’re deferring all these calls and telling people we’re completely booked,” Landoll said. “It also helps us with our weddings because we are able to get some larger weddings.”
The Stables helped seal the deal for a Hollywood producer who plans to wed at the castle later this year and wants a certain number of guests to stay on-site, Landoll said.
The castle hosts over 100 weddings a year, ranging from small ceremonies and elopements to parties for up to 200 guests, according to wedding coordinator Shayla Landoll.
Jimmy Landoll said he hopes to continuing growing the business. In the next several years, he envisions building a new, larger restaurant and incorporating a brewery, winery or distillery concept. At that point, Landoll said, the current restaurant could become another event space.
For local residents curious about the new Stables Suites or other parts of the property, Landoll’s Mohican Castle is inviting the public to a free castle and wedding open house 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 28.
The event will include tours of a couple suites in the castle and a couple of the new stables suites. The grounds will also be set up as it could be for a wedding, showing visitors the Wedding Terrace set up for a ceremony, the new pavilion set up for a cocktail hour and the Marta Louise Ballroom set up for a reception. A wedding planner will be available to answer questions.
