I recently spent a good 5 weeks in Scotland being lazy and taking part in a couple of tour groups. Naturally, tours of several castles was part of the itinerary....Traquair comes to mind, but there were others. The common thread connecting all these is they are still residences of famlies who, in some cases, have lived there for hundred's of years. Traquair, for example has been an actively lived in place for nearly a thousand years.

How have the families afforded to keep these castles? I'm interested in the day to day economics of castle ownership & maintenance. If one is a Lord, for example, do they enrich themselves like our Congress and Senate members do - with lifetime income from the Government? Anyone have a start?