lackburn Castle

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

Switzerland shared a common border with Lilliland, as did France. Every few years the question would come up about Blackburn Castle. The building was a very old structure built on the border between France and Lilliland. The French government said that the castle belonged to Lilliland and the Lilliland government said that the castle belonged to France.

Since the once beautiful castle was now in a state of neglect and in need of substantial repairs, nobody wanted to claim it.

The Baron decided that this was the time to solve the Blackburn Castle situation once and for all. The Baron felt that the structure should be torn down completely and that would be the end of the problem

The Baron called in his chief advisor Professor Hamblin to set up a meeting with the Interior Minister of the French government to discuss the matter. There would be three meetings, one at Lilliland Castle, one in Paris, and the final meeting would be at Blackburn Castle.

The first two meetings went well and it was decided on a joint venture to resolve the problem. But when the group arrived for the third meeting at Blackburn Castle a group of young campers asked permission to present an idea regarding the building to the delegations.

The idea was to restore the castle to convert it to a youth hostel for hikers and campers who wanted a warm place to stay and a meal or two.

The idea was well received by the representative of both Lilliland and France. A year later, Blackburn Castle’s restoration and conversion to a youth hostel was finished. It was officially opened and welcomed all the campers and hikers in the Alpine Mountains.