We should have been heading to Budapest this week to commence our summer adventure. Since the whole trip has been postponed until next year, we are planning on having family days out instead.
This weekend we made the trip to Yorkshire to visit Castle Howard. It’s somewhere we have passed a few times on trips to York and Scarborough but we had never actually visited until today.
As with most places at the moment, you need to book in advance as they are limiting the number of visitors. We booked for the earliest time slot of 10-10.30am as we know it’s usually the quietest time. When booking you have the option to book for just the gardens or you can purchase a house and gardens ticket. We were unsure whether the kids, especially the younger two, would be interested in the house itself, and because we knew the weather forecast was promising sunshine, we opted to stay outdoors and just purchase a gardens ticket.
The full range of prices can be found on the Castle Howard website. We paid £34.50 for our family of five to visit the gardens and a house and gardens ticket would have cost us £65.
We arrived just after 10am and found it really easy to find a parking spot. When we left around 2pm the carpark was much busier but there were staff on hand to direct the traffic.
We made our way through to the ticket office and showed our pre-booked tickets. There were bottles of hand sanitiser and screens in place and it was easy to keep our distance from others. We were informed that the children’s adventure play area, which was included in the gardens ticket, was extremely popular and would be busiest around midday. We therefore decided to head straight to the play area while it was relatively quiet.
There were staff on hand at the entrance to the playground to limit the amount of visitors and to remind people to use the hand sanitiser on entry and exit. There are two parts to the play area, which are joined by either a rope bridge or a more accessible pathway. The rope bridge has been made one-way to ensure social distance can be maintained and the kids had great fun making their way across. To make your way back to the other play area, the path must be used.
The play areas were so much fun for the kids. Across the rope bridge there are treetop structures connected by more rope bridges, slides, nets and climbing equipment. The other area had slides and play equipment as you would expect from a playground.
There are three cafes to choose from at Castle Howard and all are participating in the Eat Out To Help Out government scheme offering 50% off Monday to Friday throughout August. Unfortunately we visited at the weekend so the no half price food for us! We had brought drinks and snacks with us but couldn’t resist the temptation of the freshly cooked pizzas close the playground. They were £8 and we just had one to share and it was delicious!
We completely underestimated how extensive the gardens are. They’re huge! We were there almost five hours and didn’t see everything. After the play area we head around the back of the house and were treated to gorgeous views of the building.
A little further along there’s the stunning Atlas Fountain which is worth the visit alone. There’s just something so soothing about a water fountain and this one really is something special. There are many other statues to spot throughout the gardens including Apollo and The Shepherd Boy.
The lakes were a particular highlight for me. The one by the main lawn in front of the house is the ideal place to have a picnic while taking in the view. The other lakes were great for spotting ducks and other wildlife.
The walled gardens are very pretty, full of bright vibrant flowers. There’s gorgeous archways, rose garden and ornamental vegetable garden to explore and enjoy.
There are many measures in place to ensure the visitors feel safe. All visitors are required to prebook a time slot to limit the numbers and we definitely didn’t feel like it was overcrowded. Some areas are one-way to limit contact with others and there’s hand sanitiser available throughout. Face coverings are mandatory in all indoor spaces such as the gift shop and at present they’re operating on a cashless basis.
We had a really lovely day exploring the gardens at Castle Howard. We would definitely return and book to see inside the house too.
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This place looks incredible! Thank you so much for sharing.
I have never seen a playarea quite like that, I know all of us would enjoy having a play on that! I bet the house inside is beautiful if the outside is anything to go by. Sounds like a great day out x
oh wow! This place looks absolutely amazing! I love visiting castles and the price for a family of 5 is not bad at all!
I am a huge fan of visiting castles, I have never been here but it looks amazing and definitely on my to go to list. It looks like you all had a great day
It sounds like they are doing plenty to keep you safe. It looks like this is a wonderful place to go for a day out with the whole family.
it's good that they seem to be doing a lot to keep everyone safe, and it's really good that they're doing eat out to help out (if you visit on those days of course). Looks like a fun day out x
Sounds Like they really are doing a lot to ensure safety . We love visiting places like this
Growing up in Leeds, Castle Howard was a regular school day trip out. It’s such a beautiful place. I haven’t visited in years though so should probably rectify that.
I don't think I would get the kids out of that playground, or off that rope bridge. It looks like a lovely day out
This looks a pleasant afternoon out with some lovely things to do, i hadnt heard of this place nd worth checking out when we are that way, great review.
How cool is the rope bridge. Looks like you had a fab family day out and got some good weather too