Cookie Policy
Last updated: October 5, 2026
The short version
This site tests a small number of manually placed Google AdSense advertisements. Google Privacy & messaging, a certified consent management platform (CMP), manages advertising and analytics choices.
Advertising is not authorized by an earlier Analytics-only choice. You can refuse optional purposes and review your preferences below. Refusing advertising does not prevent you from browsing or enquiring.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser. This policy also covers local storage, a similar mechanism that keeps small values in your browser without sending them to us on every request. We use both, and we list each one below.
Strictly Necessary
These are required for the site to work. They cannot be switched off, and they do not need your consent.
| Name | Type | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
_luxury_key |
Cookie (first party) | Signed session cookie. Protects forms against cross-site request forgery and carries one-off status messages. | Until you close the browser |
cl:consent |
Local storage (first party) | Remembers your Analytics-only choice. During the advertising test, an earlier refusal remains an Analytics veto; an earlier acceptance never authorizes advertising. | Until you clear it |
cl:ads-optout |
Local storage (first party) | Remembers a browser-level advertising pause in every country. Removing this pause does not grant CMP consent. | Until you clear or change the preference |
phx:theme |
Local storage (first party) | Remembers your light or dark theme preference. | Until you clear it |
__cf_bm |
Cookie (Cloudflare) | Distinguishes people from automated traffic. Set by Cloudflare, which serves and protects this site. | About 30 minutes |
cf_clearance |
Cookie (Cloudflare) | Records that a security challenge was passed, so you are not asked repeatedly. Only set if a challenge was shown. | Up to 1 year |
| Cloudflare Turnstile | Temporary storage (Cloudflare) | Anti-spam check on the enquiry form only. It runs when you use that form, not while you browse. | Temporary |
Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors find and browse our castle listings — which pages are read, which countries people come from, which links they follow. We use it to improve the site, not for remarketing. Google Signals and Analytics ad-personalisation signals are disabled. Advertising consent is separate from permission to measure visits.
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga |
Distinguishes one browser from another | 2 years | |
_ga_LCL1JZ5MRH |
Keeps session state for this property | 2 years |
During the advertising experiment
Analytics and advertising signals start denied. Google Privacy & messaging supplies each purpose's choice separately. The Analytics library is loaded only after analytics permission is granted, or the CMP reports that consent is not applicable in a known country outside the EEA, UK and Switzerland. Advertising permission never automatically authorizes analytics.
With the same analytics permission we also load Grow, by Mediavine, which measures audience and offers save/favourites features. It stores identifiers in cookies and local storage. See Mediavine's privacy policy.
Analytics Without Cookies
We also use Umami and Cloudflare Web Analytics for aggregate traffic counts. Neither sets cookies, neither stores anything in your browser, and neither identifies you or follows you across sites. They count page views.
Because they store nothing on your device, they run without a consent banner. They still process technical data such as your IP address in the moment of the request, which is covered in our Privacy Policy.
Google AdSense and Advertising Consent
Google and its advertising partners may process your IP address, browser/device information, pages viewed, advertising identifiers and interactions with advertisements. Depending on your choices, cookies may be used for delivery, measurement, fraud prevention and personalised advertising. Partners and purposes are listed in the consent dialog.
Advertising cookies can include __gads
and __gpi;
names and lifetimes vary with the services and choices involved.
The CMP also stores your privacy choices, including in consent records
such as FCCDCF. See
Google's cookie information
and the consent dialog for provider details.
In the EEA, UK and Switzerland, we wait for the relevant CMP permissions and Google's vendor consent before requesting an advertisement. Unknown or unconfigured permissions do not authorize advertising. For this experiment, a US advertising opt-out or a browser Global Privacy Control signal disables ad requests entirely.
Managing Your Choice
Review your advertising and Analytics purposes with the CMP controls below. US visitors can also exercise an advertising sharing opt-out. These controls remain available in the site footer. In any country you can also pause ads or Analytics separately on this browser; resuming them does not override your CMP choices or Global Privacy Control. An earlier Analytics refusal remains effective until you remove that local veto. Changing a choice applies going forward; it does not delete cookies already stored.
Browser Settings
Every major browser lets you block or delete cookies and clear local storage. Doing so also clears your saved consent choice, so the banner will appear again. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may stop forms from working.
Opting Out of Google Analytics
Google provides a browser add-on that blocks Google Analytics on every site you visit: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout .
Third Parties
The services above are operated by companies outside our control, and each has its own privacy policy:
- Google — analytics, advertising and consent management
- Cloudflare — content delivery, security, bot protection, aggregate analytics
- Umami — cookieless analytics
Changes and Contact
If we add or remove a technology, we update this page and change the date at the top. Where the change requires your consent, we ask again.
Questions about this policy: [email protected]. Your rights over your personal data, and how to exercise them, are set out in our Privacy Policy.