Castle Howard

We spent an interesting afternoon at Castle Howard today. It's a very large pile belonging to the Howard family who despite many powerful forebears do not hold a title. From the outside it is similar to Blenheim Palace which is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough. That's where the similarities end. CH was partially destroyed by a big fire in the mid 20th century and the damaged rooms were essentially repaired by the makers of Brideshead Revisited on the condition they could use the sets and estate for making the film. Now these "false rooms" are still open to the public plus some real ones too; including a grand banqueting hall ( hired out for weddings etc) and chapel (over the top.....) The lands around the house are very extensive and lovely. There was also a quite interesting history of the family during the two wars. They lost a number of the sons in both wars and the woman of the family proved very good managers and community centred. The heir apparent had just married an American girl and the guide was keen to share the details of it all, including huge sums to fly Rod Stewart in for the reception. Ya gotta laugh...The best part was the walled rose garden. It was a picture and the climbing/rambling roses were particularly gorgeous. Actually, we have seen these climbing roses everywhere on our travels from little cottage entrances to the grandest formal gardens and they are equally beautiful everywhere. It was nice to return to our farmstay and normality.Read more