Private Tour of the St. Andreas Castle Grounds

 (This post was published on December 8, 2023)

Sunday April 3, 2016 -- Urs' cousin has worked for the past 20 years or so as personal assistant to the owners of a small castle in the town of Cham on Lake Zug (just one town over from my home) and she gave us a private tour of the grounds (720,000 sq ft) including the boathouse, whose tower has been redone into a mini apartment. The castle grounds are opened to the public twice per year, but a private tour was definitely better! Too bad the sky was overcast and the wind was cold. 

In medieval times the promontory where the castle is located was one of four ports on Lake Zug. The chapel on the grounds has apparently been used since the 9th century. In the 14th century the castle was fortified, and has changed hands numerous times since then. It is currently privately owned by the Page family, descendants of the founder of the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company (whose merger with Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé in 1905 formed the Nestle Company.)

Entrance to the St. Andreas castle grounds in Cham

Heading down the castle road toward the castle. 

On the left, previous grounds buildings are now converted to rented apartments

The castle has its own chapel, in use since approx. the 9th Century

Interior of the castle chapel, in use since the 9th Century

We started out by taking a walk around the castle grounds

We started out by taking a walk around the castle grounds

A look back at the castle as we head down toward the lake

A highlight at this time of year were all of these Chequered Lilies, also known as Chess Flowers! I had never seen these before.

Heading to the boathouse on the lake. Marlies had invited us for an Apero, so we were going to have something to eat at the boathouse. 

The castle grounds have their own little bay. 

On the far side of the little bay is the old boathouse with a tower, which has been converted into an apartment!

The tower has been converted to an apartment, but there is a narrow stairwell which can be accessed through this very narrow door and a narrow winding stone staircase, which we got to go up on!

This shows how very narrow this stairwell was! What fun!

This is the chapel from the back, and below it is the private family crypt.

Castle gardens... probably roses. Too early in the season for any flowers here. 

What the castle grounds look like on Google Satellite Maps!

The following two photos are what the castle looks like from the lakeside when passing with the ship on Lake Zug:

When you take a boat ride on Lake Zug, you pass by the castle, and this is how it looks from the lake. 

When you take a boat ride on Lake Zug, you pass by the castle, and this is how it looks from the lake. 

And the following three photos were taken by Urs on a separate visit in September of 2023 when he met with his cousin there:

St.Andreas Castle, September 7, 2023

St.Andreas Castle grounds, September 7, 2023

St.Andreas Castle boathouse, September 7, 2023