Charity partnership for Mountain Goat

Travel from York City Centre and visit the magnificent Castle Howard with Mountain Goat Tours.

Castle Howard is one of the finest stately homes in Britain. Before you even arrive at the palatial grounds you get an idea of the grandeur that awaits you. Arriving from York to the estates southern boundary you realise you must be close with the sudden appearance of towering column. The monument to George William Frederick Howard, the 7^th earl of Carlisle dominates the landscape and marks the start of a very impressive 6 mile Long Avenue of 3000 Lime trees that leads you into the estate and eventually to the house. First impressions where clearly very important to the social elite and the Howards went all out to impress their visitors as the two gate houses and the great obelisk can testify. Then there are the stables, which doubles as the ticket office, café and estate farm shop.

And the award for most impressive arrival to a stately home goes to…… Castle Howard!

Building of Castle Howard begun in 1699 and took over 100 years to complete a design by the famous architect Sir John Vanbrugh. The house is made up of 145 rooms, with nearly half them open to the public, the remaining rooms are still home to the Howard family. The house was partly destroyed by fire in 1940 as a chimney fire in the south of the building swept through destroying many a third of the house including the famous dome. It was decades later that restoration work started.

Castle Howard most famously played the role as the stately home in Brideshead Revisited, both in the 1981 television adaption starring Jeremy Irons and the 2008 film starring Emma Thompson. More recently it played the role of Kensington Palace in ITVs hit drama Victoria, charting the early years of the famous Queen.

There are hundreds of acres of parkland with lakes, temples, fountains and the walled gardens to enjoy subject to the infamous Yorkshire weather and cafes and tearooms to grab refreshments.

Castle Howard sits just 40 minutes from York City centre and Mountain Goat offer a weekly tour every Tuesday on our Castle Howard and the North York Moors Tour spending approximately 2 hours at the estate, giving you plenty of time to explore the baroque manor house and its gardens before we head up into the famous landscape of the North York Moors National Park. The Afternoon first sees us explore the quaint town of Pickering. Home to the southern terminus of the Famous North York Moors Railway. Here you can enjoy lunch in a traditional tearoom or pub before heading up to explore the rolling heather clad hills of the North York Moors. There will be one last stop in the charming town of Helmsley before a drive through the rolling hills back to York.