UK Trip Day 13 Castle Howard

Castle Howard and Riveaux Abbey

Barb was practically tiggering with excitement this morning. We were finally going to get to see Castle Howard, which has been high on her bucket list after seeing it on Great Rail Journeys back home in Australia. It is also where Brideshead Revisited was filmed on location and the location of the inside scenes of Death comes to Pemberley. You just know it's going to be glorious.

It certainly lived up to expectations! Rain was forecast for today and the sky did look quite foreboding, but that just added to the grandeur of this stunning property. It's big. Too big to fit it all into a photo frame without a wide angle lens.

This is only one side.  Wait till you see the front.

We declined the tractor drawn bus

Just the start of the walled gardens

Just a gate through to the walled garden

You might say Rodin's thinker. In fact
he's taking a thorn from his foot.  Honest!

Being only 15 miles north of York it was a quick trip there.We'd arrived before opening time so we spent a while wandering the gardens. Lots to see here - the walled rose garden was among the best we've seen. There are so many sculptures, fountains, follies obelisks, ornamental lakes and even a pyramid(!) dotted around the vast green lawns surrounding the house it would take hours to walk around and see it all.

Now this is the front

This folly looks New Age but apparently dates from the 1700s

A better view of the house front

The house didn't disappoint either. This home has been in the Howard branch of the Carlisle family for 300 years. We were in awe of its grandeur and while we were in the main hall gazing up at the elaborately decorated cupola, John was chatting to one of the room guides. A man dressed in workman's clothes walked past while he was speaking and the guide said "that's the current owner". Obviously a quite unpretentious man!

Grandeur?  This minor staircase
was accessed via a side door.

Which table settings today?

 

A fire in 1940 destroyed this dome - the lead melted
and the whole lot fell to the floor below. There was
much other damage and reconstruction is still ongoing.

The artwork in this place alone was more prolific than in some art galleries we've been to. Priceless treasures everywhere you looked. One room had a whole gallery of family portraits by renowned artists of the time. Barb was amused to see the great dining table decorated with four pineapples. Apparently Castle Howard was the first place to grow its own pineapples in Britain. It was considered a sign of great wealth and prestige. I told the room guide that my sister was the runner-up Pineapple Princess in the town where I grew up, with pineapples being the main crop of the area. (Oh boy, was he impressed!)

The Chapel - a real wow factor

The music room

 

Note the pineapple decorations in pride of place on the dining table

We lunched at the castle tearooms after viewing some more of the gardens. The rain that had been threatening all morning was falling lightly as we left.

The next point of call today was Riveaux Abbey. We'd seen pictures of this place in the English Heritage book and were sufficiently intrigued to go out of our way to have a look. (Hang on - I've known about Riveaux since my Boy Scout days.  We didn't need to go, I could have filled Barb in on the subject!). The drive there was so picturesque, winding through narrow and sometimes steep country lanes. When we finally arrived at the Abbey, which is hidden in a deep valley, we could find nowhere to park. It was also pretty difficult to even turn around. John drove round the car park a few times before Barb went in to enquire where we should park. On the road was the answer, which we did. By the time we left the whole roadside was full as many other people followed our cue.

The ruins of Riveaux Abbey

What was HenryVIII thinking to wreak such destruction?

 

 

One of the views from Riveaux Terraces

The ruins of the Abbey were very impressive and extensive. The scale of the buildings was just so vast! Henry VIII has a lot to answer for in destroying such a work of beauty. We spent quite a long time wandering around the ruins snapping photos from every angle. We will try to select only a few.

After seeing the Abbey we drove back up the steep hill and turned in to another road that was signed as leading to Riveaux Temples and Terraces. Couldn't pass that without a look.

The temples turned out to be 18th century follies, one an Ionic columned temple housing a dining area and the other a Tuscan Temple. The Duncombe family who own the whole estate, which also encompasses the Abbey, used this area as place to picnic and promenade. It has several vantage points where you can view from above the ruined Abbey. Must be wonderful for artists too. There were several wire sculptures of animals dotted around the woodland paths leading to the temples too. Altogether a lovely walk except that John's new shoes were rubbing a hole in his heel and he proceeded shoeless. The inner Aussie will out!

One of the wire sculptures - much bigger than most of them

Wire dear (sculptures that is)

The drive back to York was surprisingly easy, given that we reached the outer ring road at peak hour.
Nice driving John! (Good grief.  Barb's being nice to me. She's normally a quivering heap shrinking into her seat.  Barb is not a big city/ heavy traffic/ narrow road sort of girl!).