Another day, another castle. Castle Howard is one we hadn’t planned to visit, in fact we didn’t even know about it. But, we were looking for something to do close to York to kill time before we could check into our Airbnb flat at noon.
Construction of Castle Howard began in 1699 and ended in 1811. In 1940 a fire destroyed a large part of the castle, including the dome, the central hall and the dining room. While some of it has been restored including the dome, the entire east wing remains unfinished.
The castle has been used in many TV programs and films including Barry Lyndon, Brideshead and Brideshead revisited, Harry Potter, Victoria and most recently, the first season of Bridgerton on Netflix. It was the filming of Brideshead in 1980 that gave them the money they needed to continue with the restoration of the house.
Of course there was a chapel.
And a few gorgeous stained glass windows.
The grounds were massive and included a playground, lake and formal gardens.
After the castle we had a 40-minute drive to our new flat and were settled in no time at all. Tomorrow we’re visiting the sights in York, probably taking the hop on/hop off bus. It’s supposed to be a rainy day, but who knows what will actually happen when the sun comes up.