Castle Howard is striking an opulent one of
the largest stately homes in England. We'll take you on a tour through the delightful
rooms and around the lovely grounds of this historic home which is still wonderful on
a dreary wet day. Castle Howard is situated just 15 miles Northeast
of York, right at the bottom of the North Yorkshire Moors. You can get a direct bus service from York
in 55 minutes, we'll put a link in the description or you can take a train to the nearest station
Malton and get a taxi. For visiting information on opening times
and prices visit this website. The Howard family are descendants of Lord
William Howard, the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk. Building of this impressive home began in
1699 and 11 generations of the Howard family have lived here. It was the vision of Charles Howard the 3rd
Earl of Carlisle. He was a wealthy man and wanted to elevate
his social standing further by creating a showpiece home, the likes of which had never
been seen. So ambitious was his vision it would take
over 100 years to complete, this magnificent baroque building. He enlisted his friend John Vanbrugh to design
the building, even though surprisingly he had no architectural background at all. Vanbrugh recruited Nicholas Hawksmoor to help
in the practical side of design and construction. Vanbrugh must have found his calling as he
went on to build Blenheim Palace between 1705 and 22. Construction started from east to west and
within 10 years great progress had been made. however, Vanbrugh died in 1726 with the west
wing still incomplete, attention had become more focused on the grounds and gardens by
that stage. In fact, the 3rd Earl of Carlisle would himself
pass away in 1738 with it still not finished. The completed house is asymmetrical in design
and appearance and this is because when the 4th Earl took over the completion of the west
wing the palladian style had become more fashionable, therefore each wing takes on the characteristics
of two distinct styles. It has been loathed and loved by generations
of the Howard family and visitors alike. The home was deemed complete in 1811 although
a few aesthetic changes have been made since to try and improve the harmony of the two
wings. Before we head inside to see the opulent rooms
on show, let us take a walk around some of the grounds. If you don't wish to walk then a buggy runs
around the estate, we'll take the walk down to the lake. If you carry on through these gates, it will
take you into Ray Wood but we'll continue our walk to the boat house where there's a
cafe and views of the Great Lake. In the summer, visitors, weather permitting
can take boats out onto the Great Lake to watch the wildlife and enjoy spectacular views
of the house. With no children around, we thought we'd climb
up on the Rope bridge and have a look at the views from there. It was pretty wobbly! Pretty slippery and very bouncy, very bouncy. There we go we've made it to the island. The views are quite nice from this height
and you can see some of the other play areas. We'll see the formal gardens after we've been
inside the house. We start our tour on the Grand Staircase in
the west wing. Light floods in from the glass ceiling catching
the walls adorned with portraits of the early Earls of Carlisle including Charles Howard. The fourth and fifth Earls would fill the
house with a number of paintings and sculptures that they'd collected on their grand tours. This painting is of the three daughters of
the 3rd Earl, painted by Antonio Pellegrini. We will see more of his work shortly. At the top of the stairs is an impressive
Bone China cabinet showcasing many pieces collected by the family. The west wing bedrooms were closed for refurbishment
work, so we continue along the Antique Passage. The 4th Earl collected large numbers of statues
and many still sit exactly where they were positioned on arrival at the home. In the 18th century it was quite normal for a
gentleman to finish his education by taking a grand tour of Europe. The 4th Earl would go to Italy twice the second
time in 1738 just after he had inherited Castle Howard and the title. It was on this visit that he started his collection. The statue of Fortuna, the Roman Goddess of
Plenty sits as if guarding the route along the Antique Passage. You may notice that she's had some repair
work done on her hands and whilst the head is ancient it's unlikely to be the original. The Great Hall, the centrepiece of Castle
Howard draws you to look up at the great painted dome in its centre. Guests would have arrived in horse-drawn carriages
via the gravel drive, climbing the steps to be an immediate ore of the spectacular Dome
70 feet above them. Nicolas Hawksmoor had worked with Sir Christopher
Wren on St Paul's Cathedral so must have taken inspiration from that for the design
of this dome. The incredible arches that surround the hall
were from the theatrical designs of Vanbrugh. The 3rd Earl commissioned Antonio Pellegrini
to create the incredible wall and Dome paintings. On one side of the hall Bacchus the Roman
god of wine stands welcoming guests. On the other is the fireplace, the figure
above is Vulcan the Roman god of fire. Speaking of fire, sadly a great blaze ripped through the
building in 1940 and the Dome completely collapsed into the Hall. It has been painstakingly recreated
to Pellegrini's original. Let us climb the discreetly positioned
stairs to reach some more of the rooms. The High South were exquisite upper-floor
apartments consisting of four bedrooms and a central Saloon sadly lost in the fire. The rooms now
exhibit information about the tragic event and display photos of their lavish and colourful
interiors showing the lost wall decorations by Antonio Pellegrini. Interestingly even
before the fire at the end of the 19th century Rosalind 9th Countess of Carlisle decided the paintings
were not to her taste and covered over them with William Morris wallpaper. Other displays
explain what might be done to the rooms in the future. Two North Side Apartments have
been restored but these rooms are yet to be done. Queen Victoria stayed in these apartments
during a visit in 1850. Through the Windows, you can see lovely views
of the South Gardens that we'll walk through later. Heading back down the stairs of the Great
Hall we can enjoy views seen by the guests as they may be headed for dinner. This is the new library built in 1981
from the ashes of the former Canaletto Room. It was designed by Julian Bignell. The room is full of books relating to natural
history, architecture and art. It is also used as an office for the current Earl, George
Howard 13th Earl of Carlisle. This next room displays information and costumes
from the many films and TV adaptations that have used Castle Howard as their backdrop.
In 1965 George Howard looked for ways to raise funds to repair the house after the fire. Allowing it to be used as a filming location would also raise awareness of this stately home.
Bride's head Revisited, Victoria, Death comes to Pemberley and most recently Bridgeton,
to name but a few, have all been filmed on this estate. No stately home of the period would have been
without a music room and the one at Castle Howard does not disappoint with no less than
two pianos in the room, both built by Broadwood and Sons in the early 19th century. The walls are full of spectacular artwork. This portrait of a musician with a
score in his hand was painted by Dominic o'fetti and purchased by the fifth Earl at Christie's
in 1770. We are now in the Crimson Dining Room still
occasionally used for very special events by the family. The painting by George
Stubbs is of the fifth Earl's favourite horse. The value of this one painting will be in
the Millions. Here we see a number Here we see a number of paintings by Bernardo Bellotti, whose uncle
was the famous painter Canaletto. In the painting we see the harbour of San Marco Venice on
Ascension Day. Bellotti's signature was always a monkey and you can see it here on the Gondola. The
fourth Earl acquired this and almost 50 other Venetian paintings on his Grand Tour. Most of the food served at this table over the centuries came from the Walled Garden on the
estate, we'll see that later. We have moved into the Turquoise Drawing Room,
a stunning stateroom once used by the fifth Earl as a painting Gallery. Family portraits
now fill the walls. It was also used for entertainment as we can
see from the card table and what looks like a backgammon table in the centre. This was
in fact, a versatile table for the game called trick track. The top could also be reversed
to make it a table for cards. It was made in Sweden in 1765. We passed through the Museum Room in the Palladian
West Wing. This is the Long Gallery it's 166 feet long and the largest room in the house. It was
completed in the 19th Century around 1810 from the designs of Charles Hethgott
Tatham. This painting by John Jackson shows the room at the time of completion with
the fifth Earl and his son Henry enjoying this same picture on an easel. Halfway down is the Octagon, these
cabinets are full of books, a library that was inherited by the family and needed a place
to live. This incredible piece is a wine cooler
made from oak and silver gilts by Wilkinson's of Leeds. Topping it is the Howard family
lion. The 11th Earl lost his seat in Parliament following the 1841 general election and this
was presented to him as a commiseration prize, paid for by a number of subscribers. The final part of the house is to see the
Anglican Chapel, in use since the late 18th Century. It was remodelled in the 19th century to create
these wonderful Victorian features based on the Arts and Crafts Style. The walls and paintings and the figure of
Christ were painted by W H Hughes. Edward Byrne Jones designed the stained glass
windows which were then made by Morrison Co in 1872. The tour ends in the gift shop. We have now moved outside past the Boar Statue
into the very wet grounds to have a look at more of the gardens. We won't be seeing everything
because the weather was just horrible at times. In the centre of the South Garden is the wonderful
Atlas Fountain, you will remember we saw it from the windows of the High South. The fountain
was created by William Andrews Nesfield for the seventh Earl in 1850. Nesfield was a landscape
gardener. Around the Atlas are Sea Gods carved by the sculptor John Thomas. It's quite a wonderful piece of sculpture.
In the distance, you can see the Pyramid on Saint Anne's Hill designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor,
intended to catch the eye from the house. Nearly a mile from the house is the Howard
family Mausoleum commissioned by Charles Howard 3rd Earl. The weather was not good enough
for us to enjoy a walk there but here is a painting of the mausoleum scene in the house. The Walled Garden is a peaceful haven to walk
and enjoy the lovely borders, clipped hedging and water features. We are here quite late
in the summer season so many of the flowers have already bloomed. It is also here you can find fresh produce
still being grown for the house and to sell in the farm shop in the Sundial Garden. Most likely not on the scale of the past but still nice to see the tradition still being followed.
It is an Ornamental Garden, so flowers intermingle with the growing vegetables. This statue is of the Seventh Earl, George
William Frederick Howard. Let's look ahead to where we'll be in Yorkshire
next time. Our travels through Yorkshire bring us to
the wonderful coastal town of Whitby. This historic fishing port is crammed full of old
buildings cottages and shops lining the steep banks on either side of the harbour, enjoying
beautiful views of the coastline. The famous Whitby Abbey used as inspiration by Bram Stoker
when he wrote Dracula dominates the skyline. We'll take a walk around the town and share
some history, climb the 199 steps to see the Abbey up close and take a walk on part of
the cinder track on the outskirts of town, over the top of an incredible disused Viaduct.
Whitby is not your average English seaside town! We hope you've enjoyed our tour here at Castle
Howard and finding out a bit more about its history and the Howard family. If you enjoyed
this stately home you may well like Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire, so do check that out. There'll
be a link at the end of this video. Thanks so much for watching, do subscribe,
join us again and give us a like. Thanks very much take care, bye-bye!
