Castle Howard, Yorkshire

Well at last it seems to have stopped raining, at least for the time being. The family is divided today; my brother was going to Castle Howard but changed his mind at the last minute after seeing the weather forecast. However this was after he persuaded my parents to go. He was half way to Leeds before they figured it out.

I decide to chance it with Mum and Dad, but we do make sure we are there as early as possible. As normal Dad drives and Mum does the map reading. However it really isn’t possible to miss this place. If you didn’t see the brown tourist information road signs there’s always a large monument crowned with a golden globe, a gatehouse that looks like a two dimensional castle, a second gatehouse in what looks like a complete wall around the estate and finally a huge great Egyptian style obelisk – yes, I think we’ve found it!

When we arrive we get cut price tickets to see the house and gardens. This is because access to the house is limited as a new film version of Brideshead Revisited is currently being filmed (the original television version was filmed here twenty years ago). Apparently Michael Gambon was dying yesterday! However the work actually affects the outside quite a bit as cranes, generators, rigging and lights are all over the place. Today is not a good day for taking beautiful photographs. Still I was once taught to find beauty in scaffolding and other unwanted extras. They make useful historical references, allowing the viewer to pinpoint exactly when they were taken, so I really don’t mind.

We head off touring the gardens to begin with, just in case the rain comes as promised. As we walk down the road towards the house, a man on a crane is reversing towards us. Alarmingly he is facing the wrong direction and seems to be texting at the same time. We all try standing to the side, but whichever side of the road we head for he seems to be coming straight for us. Luckily at the last moment he spots us and stops and we pass him as fast as possible.

The gardens are really beautiful and quite naturalistic. There is a large lake out the back, which has a small cascade down to the next level and a waterfall to a river below. As your eye travels further there is an ornamental bridge across it and a folly away in the distance. The whole effect is very beautiful, until you catch a glimpse of the bridge from another angle. Then just like the one at Bolton Abbey, you see the decoration is only skin deep. Try to cross it and you might as well be on an overgrown footpath. I’m sure when I read up about the gardens I’ll discover that the whole lot; folly, bridge, river, waterfall and lakes were created by Capability Brown, the famous landscape designer.

Around the front of the house there are some more large lakes and we just arrived in time to beat the first of the rain. Luckily there is an old boathouse down here, part of which has been turned into a café. We take shelter inside and enjoy a really good lunch. Fortune continues to smile on us because no sooner are we ready to go, than the rain stops and a little bit of sun finds its way back out. This gives us the opportunity to sit outside for a few moments appreciating the view of the lake and the wildlife upon it. Dad’s all for taking a boat trip around it, but he’s outvoted.

Back up at the house I join the next tour. We are warned that we may have to stop when the filming is in progress and we won’t be asked nicely to be quiet! In general we see almost every room that is normally on the tour. However a few have been altered to suit the filming. Several rooms have had furniture and extra props added, giving it the sense that someone has just put down a jacket and left the room. Personally I thought it make it look more like a real home. One prop that sadly has not been used is a teddy bear called Algernon! Luckily he has been relegated to one of the other rooms on the tour so at least we were able to meet him. He had starred in the previous version of Brideshead with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Isaacs.

Our progress was finally interrupted when we reached the Main Hall. There were electricians on the balcony above us and young girls with walkie-talkies all around. All of a sudden they all started shouting for silence – making a terrible din in the process! We all stood quietly, ears straining to hear something exciting but it never came. Eventually our guide is given the all clear and starts explaining about the room again. The only change here is a dreadful Madonna and Child that has replaced the real painting over the fireplace. This normally shows Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. When we look closely you can see that the painting is just resting inside the real frame, it must have taken some doing as the frame edges are not straight and even! There are shouts for silence again just as we are about to leave. This time someone isn’t listening and we can hear laughing coming from somewhere. The nearest walkie-talkie girl is soon off in hot pursuit!

I won’t try to replicate the guide’s commentary here; I’m sure there are better books and web pages that describe this in full somewhere else. However I will warn you that it takes a good while to get round the house and my legs were killing me by the end. I wasn’t alone because as soon as we reached the family chapel, everyone gratefully collapsed into the pews. This was the end of the tour and we were left to find our way to the inevitable gift shop.

Halfway back to the car park and just after entering the rose garden, the rain started to chuck down. I hid for a while under a yew arch which protected me from most of it, but eventually I had to tuck my guidebook inside my coat and make a dash for it. However the rain was only short lived and no sooner had I made it to the main entrance, it stopped. So I dripped my way around an excellent farm shop and gift shop but didn’t bother with the book shop or chocolate shop!

Back at the car I discovered my Mum watching a group of people who were having a champagne picnic. Just before the rain came over she had got back into the car and waited. Eventually, when the rain finally came, there was the inevitable and undignified scrabble to put up a gazebo. Having finally achieved this they used it to cover the table with the drinks and then tried to squeeze about 50 people underneath. Every time one lot managed to shove their way under, the other lot were pushed out the other side. Mum hadn’t laughed so much for years!

All in all we were very lucky with the weather today and had a really great day out. It was slightly satisfying that my brother had good weather in Leeds, but didn’t really find much to do. Perhaps he should have come with us after all!