In the rural village of Yarrow BC, a three-suite hotel contains a little castle with a moat, a sailing ship wedged into a tower, and an underground house beneath an artificial hillside.

The Hazelnut Inn was built over nine years by the Imagination Corporation, a theme-park design and fabrication company. Its founders, Peter and Hailey Sawatzky, stayed in a restored Roman villa on their honeymoon and wondered why they couldn't build a small castle hotel of their own in Canada.

The Copper Crown Suite, the last to be completed, is a miniature castle. A steel dragon guards its garden gate, and a bridge crosses a tiny moat into the courtyard. Four armoured statues watch over the great hall, and dragons are carved throughout the masonry and woodwork. A secret door leads to a tiny library.

The North Star Suite is built around the stern of the Avellana, a tall ship fabricated in the company's workshop. The ship was craned into position above the garden entrance before the building was framed around it.…