The guardian

Transylvania was made famous by Bram Stoker but the region’s real history and medieval villages are much more interesting than Dracula. Machine House Romania. Blood red … Machine House, Transylvania. The full moon draws lines of silver around the gloomy power stations on the plains outside Bucharest. Over the Carpathian mountains, the road twists alarmingly…

A castle in the Carpathian mountains with a turbulent history has been restored by the original family owners. The Zabola Estate’s wrought-iron gates swing open and an avenue of chestnut trees stretches before me. Beyond them lies a serene Transylvanian landscape of rolling hills lakes and gardens surrounding a grand yellow-ochre castle…