Newman’s Castle — Attraction in Bellville

TLDR: go on a weekday and keep an eye on kids. Reservation “system” needs work. A unique experience.

How to explain this place? We’ve never had an experience like it. The owner died two months ago and, based on reviews, the “king” who welcomed us is a kinder fit for the role. There is a lot of confusion that could easily be cleared up thru an online registration. For one, the phone call instructing us to be at the bakery by 10:30 didn’t mention we would pick up tickets there and then head to the actual castle about 10 mins away. There was some confusion about when to leave the bakery. No clear start time was given. Thankfully, we showed up about five minutes before the “program” started. The “king” walked out in jeans with a giant sword and a crown. An overview was given of the castle, including an extensive explanation of chopped off body parts they feed to the fish. One kid actually started crying after all the talk of chopped off ears and noses. The presentation was a bit long winded and scattered and I ended up getting distracted watching a water moccasin swim across the moat. It was hot even under the shelter. After the overview, we were free to roam.

This is where my mind was further blown. We only had maybe 20 of us enter the castle at the same time as it was a Monday before schools let out. I can’t imagine visiting on a day with a bigger crowd. In large crowds, this would be hard to maneuver. Today, though, we had free roam to spread out from others and we took our time exploring. As a husband and wife with an open mind for new adventures, it was fun. I’m not sure I’d ever visit on a crowded day or with young kids unless you can keep an eye on them constantly. Why? There is a literal bed of rusty nails, a HEAVY pillory made of solid wood that you can get in and out of unsupervised (easy head injury or broken fingers waiting to happen), narrow stairwells, exposed wires and a somewhat dull but still sharp enough dagger on a shelf near the guestbook. It’s a gigantic lawsuit waiting to happen.

You’ll get to ring a tower bell, climb multiple towers and see hand carved furniture. I want to mention this is not ADA friendly unless you desire to stay on at ground level. You'll see an incredible amount of detail in items like door knobs, the curvature of doors in rounded rooms and the chainmail curtain at the entrance to the owner’s private residence.

You’ll see the room where the builder actually lived. It’s a mess and you get a peek into the guy who had swords, a crown and a kilt laying around his room, mixed in with a ball cap, artificial tree and lots of books. It’s as if they’ve left it as he did when he passed suddenly in March 2024. Makes you wonder how much of this was a fantasy to Mr. Newman and how much was reality to him.

Two employees were there. Both were nice and King Jeff is very engaging and helpful. Your ticket includes a ham and cheese sandwich, chips and donuts. They ran out of the lunch kits (probably due to the non existent reservation system) so they gave us a paper to drive 10 mins back over to the bakery to get our sandwiches. The sandwiches at the bakery are about $9.50 each so I see why they increased the price of admission - it now includes the meal.

All in all? We can say we’ve seen a castle in Texas. We didn’t break any bones from falls or pillorys, didn’t get tetanus on rusty nails or electrocuted by open wires. No one lost any ears to feed the bass. We got to meet sweet King Jeff and do things we most certainly would never be able to do if they decide to hire a liability lawyer. Not sure what happens to this place in the future but a new owner could really benefit from tightening up some safety things, creating a clear reservation process, limiting the number of visitors per tour and selling tickets at the site versus making it a two part stop at the bakery and...

TL;DR: a very cool experience and worth the price of admission. Some minor housekeeping things would make this five stars. This was an overall cool experience and I do recommend checking it out. Belleville is a lovely little town, too, and the family and I had a great day visiting. After a brief Q&A session about the castle and a little bit of its oral history, we were free to just wander about and check it out. All of the staff were very friendly and helpful, and they even let my nieces take pictures holding a cool (unsharpened/decorative) sword! Always keeping in mind that this is someone's home and that it's a tourist attraction second, any critique I may have is for the lack of "polish" put on for visitors. Checking out the castle was cool, and it's impressive and inspiring to see what one man was able to build. The small lunch that was provided was a welcome surprise and the collection of cookies and donuts from the bakery were quite tasty. You don't need a long time to see everything, and from an upkeep perspective, things like stairways and railings felt safe but also a bit "medieval" and fitting to the style. Everything I climbed on felt sturdy, and if it will hold me, it'll probably hold you, haha. I do recommend checking it out, because the photo opportunities out front were worth the drive and the kids loved the whole of it! With that said, I hope the next words are taken as a suggestion and not just bitchy criticism. I would recommend just a more general sense of tidiness and cleanup. The castle was quite busy, but not too crowded, on the Saturday we visited. The website even showed they were at capacity for tickets, so it was sold out for the day. Just doing the math, for just one day's worth of admission, they could hire a cleaning crew and do some general tidiness and maintenance things with money left over. The "lived in" quality is appealing until the items become clutter, and there's no good reason to have empty cardboard boxes and jugs of motor oil sitting around when you know you've sold tickets that day. Obviously, the folks running the castle know the balance sheets better than I do, and I would guess upkeep can be pretty pricey, but a good "spring cleaning" was clearly needed. Maybe the tours just cover the annual taxes and not much else? I didn't see anything that would take a long time or a lot of effort to clean up, so if a professional cleaning service is too expensive, even just waking through and tidying up before "doors open" would go a long way. Do go check it out! It was extremely memorable for all involved, and I would certainly visit again with others who...

Bellview is an adorable town, but Newman’s castle is not the place to go. Although the outside of this place is beautiful, it is not historical. I went with two people ( one adult and one preteen) and neither enjoyed it. We went to Newman’s bakery to check in ( arrived at about 10am). Then we proceeded to the castle and found the gate locked only to be told you don’t arrive at 10:30, you leave the bakery at 10:30. We went back to the bakery and waited. After arriving to the castle again, we quickly parked and went to the waiting area for the “tour”. There was a greeting guy who was somewhat inappropriate and rude. Regardless, for the next hour we sat on benches to be asked if we had any dad jokes while we waited for “the king” to arrive. The “ tour” did not start till about 11:15. At that time the king separated the kids who wanted to be knights, and spent a really long time dubbing them and teaching them how to play the role. It was only between the kids and him, so it was not like he was putting on a show for everyone. At about 12 we went to the next demonstration which was a catapult to throw a rock into the lake, and finally standing at the castle gate as there was one kid had pretend died. Throughout the entirely of this experience he could not be heard by the majority of people. I would invest in a microphone. Also, after finally being able to enter the castle there wasn’t much to see. Most of the rooms were empty. Also, this is not the place to go for handicapped people. We wanted to eat the lunch that we were promised but weren’t directed where to do so. We finally found the kitchen were there was food, but everything was wrapped up. I suppose we were supposed to unwrap it ourselves? It was grab and go sandwich with ruffle chips bags , and a cookie or donut. Another tip would be to have someone there to give instructions. Finally, we kept walking and found the bedroom adjacent to the kitchen ( no door). The bedrooms sheets were thrown about and all of his personal belongings were everywhere. I don’t know how someone could live that way let alone show people it. There were about 100 people there. Many of those we talked to had the same feelings.Overall, we drove an hour and paid $60 to be bored for several hours. I think this would be better marketed towards kids about 5 years old, but even then I don’t think it’s worth the...