The first time I saw Castle Howard was back in 1980s with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews starring in the TV production of Brideshead Revisited – it was wonderful to finally see it for real! I was staying near Ripon as my sister had been lent a house – it’s such a beautiful part of the world.
Castle Howard is 15 miles north-east of York and is easily accessbile from the A64.
Begin by exploring the Walled Garden before walking to the House and the surrounding gardens with the Atlas Fountain
And now head out to the surrounding gardens. There’s so much to explore that I will include photos from the estate with captions underneath
And then head into Ray Wood – be warned, it’s easy to get lost….
History
The estate was bought by the Howard family in 1571 and in 1698, Charles Howard commissioned William Talman to design plans for a new house. Talman’s ideas were rejected and a year later, Sir John Vanbrugh was appointed. Vanbrugh worked at Castle Howard until his death in 1726 after which his pupil Nicholas Hawksmoor continued the project. In 1850 W A Nesfield updated the south parterre, created the cascade at the South Lake and installed the Atlas Fountain; the parterre proved too expensive to maintain and was replaced by a grass terrace and yew hedges in 1890s.
There are lots of places to eat, places for children to play and things to see – you can easily spend a day here.
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