A guest at the court of Count Kalnoky
The Weekly Telegraph 09/09/2002

Count Tibor Kalnoky grew up restless. Moving every three to four years throughout his childhood, even now, if he's been in a place for long he feels like a change. But, two years ago, he opened a luxury guesthouse in the village of Miclosoara in Transylvania, the hunting ground of his ancestors, and he's here to participate in the development of the region.

The Kalnokys are one of the most ancient families in Transylvania, with a history stretching back 25 generations. The Count, a charming Ralph Fiennes lookalike in his early thirties, is of the first generation to have been born outside Transylvania in 750 years.

Coming to see the remains of his family homes in 1987, at the impressionable age of 20, he found more than a pile of old stones. 'People in the village remembered us and were friendly,' he said. 'The building was beautiful and no one was taking care of it. It was then I decided that if I could do something, I would.'

People of aristocratic origin lost everything under the communist regime. They weren't allowed to study and had to work as street sweepers or flower sellers. Some were forced to live in cellars. 'Some of the Romanian aristocracy have got their property back, but their spirit has been broken,' Kalnoky explains sadly. 'If my family had stayed here, I wouldn't have had the force to do anything either.'

Leaving was far from an easy option however. Tibor's grandfather was a notorious anti-communist and anti-Nazi. The family, including Tibor's father, then just eight years old, were lucky to escape with their lives, bizarrely, hitching a ride from Germany in the turrets of General Patten's tank.

Seeking shelter in America, Tibor's grandmother was employed as a servant - and the family lived in the chicken pen. Grandmother Kalnoky went on to run the famous Nuremberg Guesthouse that held the victims and the accused in the Nazi war trials. Her book about the experience, The Guest House, is now in Hollywood hands.

Growing up in America, Tibor's father became an expatriate for IBM. A dizzying international childhood for Tibor ensued: from kindergarten in Holland, to an American school in Cannes and a German school in Paris. At 16, he set up a wild bird hospital in France, and went on to study as a vet in Germany. Tibor then moved to Budapest to work for a veterinary pharmaceuticals company.

It was there, in 1993, he met his wife, Anna, from a Hungarian family. Their first son, Matyas, now seven, was born there, the second, Vincze, in Vienna. But in 1997, continuing his quest for the return of the family property, Kalnoky accepted a post in Bucharest and his third son, Miklos, now one and a half, was born in Transylvania.

It took eight years of suing the government for the castle and hunting lodge to be returned. 'I always finish what I start,' Kalnoky explained determinedly. He now talks passionately of long dreamed of renovations, which he funds from his guesthouse in the remote Miclosoara.

At the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, it looks like the setting for Grimm's fairy tales. Although now, storks nest atop electricity pilons, the Szeklers, old Hungarian people, still plough the fields using horses. And, bells herald the swaggering cow parade past Kalnoky's each evening at 8.15pm.

'The most important influence on people's soul is nature, but the second is the building they're living in,' says Kalnoky. With unheard of luxuries such as white towelling dressing gowns, feather duvets and hand-picked Transylvanian antiques, this is the place to experience rural life without living like a peasant.

An atmosphere created by older objects is much more calming and comforting than an environment only made by the new, believes Kalnoky. And by combining wildlife and cultural activities with luxury, he offers something unique in Transylvania.

Unsurprisingly, the Count receives a steady steam of European diplomats and aristocrats as well as a high proportion of expatriates. Richard Ralph, who is leaving as British Ambassador to Romania this month, is a big fan. Arriving on his Harley Davidson just after the guesthouse opened, he raved: 'I had the most wonderful breakfast I've had in my life at Kalnoky's!'.

A Kalnoky crest from 1696 at the family crypt, restored in the 14th century, announces, 'Neither timid nor boasting', which seemed rather fitting. Researching the crypt, a hand sticking out of a box of maize in an old priest's barn turned out to be the original angel that had watched over it.

Tibor's great granduncle, who fought against the Hapsburgs, was the last to be buried here. Getting a local girl, Borobash, pregnant, he had married her to his first officer. But his daughter died at the age of 12 and, grief-stricken, he buried her in a glass coffin behind an iron door. The key has been lost, but the legend is that she lies preserved - yet another family mystery for Kalnoky to unravel. 'I am just a small part of a long chain,' he comments, 'But the spirit of the whole chain is in me.'

Guests travel by horse and cart to the stunning 16th century hunting lodge, with its Baroque and Renaissance features and hints of the family blue and yellow.

Three hundred years ago, there was a bridge over the river to a pagoda in the lake and the park was full of wildlife. 'My family saw Transylvania as the cradle of Europe,' Kalnoky explains. 'Different cultures still live here, in harmony, side by side.'

'It was a nice feeling when I discovered 'SK', my ancestors initials on the balcony of the hunting lodge,' says Kalnoky wistfully. Samuel Kalnoky, Tibor's great grandfather 10 times removed, was the one time chancellor of Transylvania. Another moment came as restoring a beautiful arch he found in pieces, he uncovered a motto that translates as 'What you choose in life becomes immortal'.

Few exterior frescoes remain on buildings from Renaissance times and Austrian soldiers destroyed the library in 1848, so it has taken some sleuthing through diaries to plan the renovation. 'Preservation is not just about the walls,' says Kalnoky. 'But the spirit of the people who lived here. Treasure lies in the values that have existed for hundreds of years and proved to be true.'

Kalnoky isn't a faceless institution, but a restorer with an emotional attachment to the building, which he believes makes a difference. 'In a world where everything is becoming unified, I believe it's important to personalise things.'

A couple of rooms in the towers of the hunting lodge will be available to guests by 2004 and plans are afoot to open a restaurant in the large cellar and a museum.

'I don't like dusty museums,' Kalnoky says firmly. 'I want this place to look as if the family just popped out for five minutes.' He plans to settle his family in one wing of the nearby castle.

Asking Kalnoky about life as an expatriate in Transylvania, he shrugs. 'It is my fate. Only I can please my ancestors and restore the future generations' heritage. I'm doing this to give my children a home - a place they can always come back to.'

Publication: The Weekly Telegraph.