Yorkshire's stately Bridgerton home with a quirky turret stay

As I peer up at the dome of Castle Howard, the screen-famous stately home that occupies an 8,800-acre estate 15 miles northeast of York, I take in a scene from the ancient Greek myth of the fallof Phaeton, frescoed across its interior.
This 70ft centrepiece is one of the many design statements that the British statesman Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, brought to North Yorkshire in the early 18th century to create an 'Italian palace in Yorkshire'. To do so he enlisted the help of the radical architect and dramatist John Vanbrugh, alongside Nicholas Hawksmoor, the designer behind Blenheim Palace and the west towers of Westminster Abbey.
Some 300 years on, this country house has starred in multiple film and TV series, including the period drama Brideshead Revisited, made in the Eighties, and the Netflix series Bridgerton. At the end of April, as part of its ambitious 21st Century Renaissance project, it opened its doors to its newly refurbished tapestry drawing room. And next year the house will be available for occasional private rent, allowing holidaymakers to step into the lives of its present custodians, Nicholas and Victoria Howard, while enjoying the setting in the Howardian Hills, one of England's 46 national landscapes, which are protected for their natural beauty. Prices are on request but you can imagine it's suitably expensive.
For those of us without such deep pockets there's the new Hinds House, a former gamekeeper's cottage, which is where I'm settling in for a weekend with my husband and two children. It's the newest of Castle Howard's stays, which also include a caravan and campsite with holiday homes, plus six other cottages in nearby villages. Hinds House is by far its quirkiest, forming part of a turret in the estate's original mock medieval walls, built by the 18th-century architect John Carr, who also designed Derbyshire's Buxton Crescent and West Yorkshire's Harewood House.
As we drive along the poker-straight avenue to Castle Howard, it brings back memories of day trips here as a child — I grew up some 30 miles north, in the North York Moors. Down a narrow country lane, a large field's distance south of Castle Howard itself, we find the house. It sits beside a walled garden of lavender, with a private lawn containing a weeping birch tree that the children sneak beneath.
• The 100 Best Places to Stay in the UK for 2025
Inside, the cottage is filled with vintage pieces from the stately home. Walls are lined with replica wallpaper from the estate's archives and portraits of earls who have lived at Castle Howard. They keep a watchful eye over the children as they dance around dressers filled with antique china. The living room exudes vintage maximalism, with ornaments and pots dotting the surfaces, and a total of — yes, we counted — 17 lampshades. Elsewhere, modern striped fabrics, pompom-fringed curtains and Pooky-style lampshades, along with French grey painted cottage doors, balance out the time-warp chintz. I retreat to the copper bathtub in the most impressive of its two bathrooms — the one whose curved stone walls form part of the turret — for a soak. The kitchen, meanwhile, has a modern country feel, with a massive Smeg fridge, a rustic farmhouse table, framed pictures of cockerels and views of hopping rabbits. Its Aga keeps us toasty and cooks our Yorkshire bacon, from Castle Howard's farm shop, within minutes.
You could easily spend a weekend relaxing in this quirky property but you'd miss out if you didn't delve into Castle Howard's 600 acres of parkland, whose Pyramid folly and colonnaded mausoleum — where some 30 members of the Howard family are interred — can be seen from the cottage. It's in the parkland that we find several head-turning features including an 80ft-tall obelisk and a stone fountain featuring a huge figure of the Titan Atlas. The caw of electric-blue peacocks echoes throughout.
• Read our travel guide to England here
We dodge muddy puddles through the pine-scented Ray Wood, where candyfloss-coloured petals unfurl from giant rhododendrons. Their gigantic leaves delight my six-year-old daughter, who plucks them from the forest floor. She and her five-year-old brother race down the wood's steep hill while I soak up its extraordinary view of Castle Howard's baroque architecture. They coax me over a bridge that wobbles across the waterfowl-filled waters of Skelf Island, the estate's adventure playground. In summer you can join the queues for boat trips over the Great Lake: a prime opportunity for birdwatching and enjoying views of the property's north-facing façade, whose entrance appeared in Bridgerton (adults £6; children £4).
I walk around the house too, which is free for one day for guests staying at Hinds House. Some of its rooms were destroyed during a fire in 1940 but the dome, with its fresco, was rebuilt in 1962. In the Eighties, filming of Brideshead Revisited funded reconstruction of the garden hall and new library.
• 25 of the best unusual places to stay in the UK
The new tapestry drawing room features cyan walls with a striking gold entablature, its frieze inspired by Vanbrugh's decoration in the great hall and the Roman Ara Pacis (altar of peace), a monument now housed in its own museum in Rome. A specialist conservator has stabilised the tapestries, which depict the four seasons. Other rooms — including the long gallery and grand staircase — have had a complete refurb and rehang of paintings, with Grand Tour treasures from Roman busts to mosaics added and rearranged.
Aside from its extraordinary country house, the Howardian Hills have become synonymous with high-quality local food and drink. North Yorkshire's food capital of Malton, which has the tagline 'a town of makers and markets', is a ten-minute drive from Castle Howard and is celebrated for its raft of artisan producers and independent shops. The town's Shambles takes you back in time, with tiny antique stores housed in former stables. Here I drop into the Woodlark and pick up a beautifully carved oak cheeseboard, its label telling me 'provenance: the Castle Howard estate' (thewoodlark.com).
There's also a clutch of Michelin-starred restaurants, lauded for their use of the area's rich natural larder. During our stay we visit a newcomer, Restaurant Mýse, a renovated 19th-century pub in Hovingham helmed by the North Yorkshire lad Joshua Overington, for its 17-course tasting menu (from £145; restaurantmyse.co.uk). The restaurant's ethos is 'micro seasonality' and it uses foraged ingredients, such as wild mushrooms, medlars and apples, from the Castle Howard estate. The doughnut-like braised ox cheek in Yorkshire pudding batter, and the chicken drippings — into which we dunk sourdough — are heavenly. The crab custard topped with various pickled, fermented, salted and braised mushrooms ignites taste buds I didn't know I possessed. The standout dessert is the Jerusalem artichoke ice cream, its birch sap also collected from Castle Howard.
On our final day the kids have one last run around Castle Howard's serene gardens, whose towering box hedges make for excellent hide and seek. Behind us the dome's 23.5-carat gold leaf cupola lantern glistens in the sun and we catch a glimpse of Hinds House, which the children now affectionately call 'our little old-fashioned house', across the field.
A grand historic house like Castle Howard is forever a work in progress. I look forward to seeing what Nicholas and Victoria Howard decide to do with the other rooms of Yorkshire's Italian palace.Lucy McGuire was a guest of Hinds House, which has one night's self-catering for six from £250 (castlehoward.co.uk), and the Yorkshire Arboretum
Castle Howard provides maps of the various hiking trails you can take, through pretty villages such as Ganthorpe, Coneysthorpe and Slingsby, as well as through ancient woodland filled with bluebells in April and May (howardianhills.org.uk).
This 120-acre garden is two minutes from Castle Howard and is known for its red squirrel enclosure, where you can listen to talks with 'squirrel volunteers' as you watch the new colony of kits (babies) being fed. Trail tree maps lead you on walks across the rare tree-filled park known for its critically endangered Australian wollemi pines (£12; yorkshirearboretum.org).
Tastings and demos with local chefs and MasterChef semi-finalists such as Olayemi Adelekan feature at this annual event. Arrive hungry, browse stalls of local produce and enjoy live music with a drink from a red double-decker bus (May 24-26; free; visitmalton.com).
With commanding views over the Vale of York — and, if you squint, York Minster — this peaceful, elevated farm in Terrington, a ten-minute drive west of Castle Howard, has tea rooms, themed gardens and swathes of the perfumed purple flower (£5 in May; £7 June-August; yorkshirelavender.com).

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

New Statesman​

an hour ago

• New Statesman​

Smells like Jane Austen

Jane Austen was a woman who liked to shop. 'I am getting very extravagant & spending all my Money,' she wrote to her sister Cassandra during an 1811 London sejour. 'What is worse for you,' she added, 'I have been spending yours too.' Muslin, trimmings, and silk were her chosen indulgences, but there were limits to her taste for luxury. Opulence, in her fiction, signals artifice. Sir Walter Elliot's reckless spending in Persuasion or Augusta Elton's glittering pearls in Emma mark vanity and pretension. Jane adorns the £10 note, not the £20, and certainly not the £50. What, then, would she have made of a new fragrance 'inspired' by her novels now on the market at £295 a bottle? It was in the dark, ornate and inevitably fragrant breakfast room of a swanky Kensington hotel on Tuesday that French-Italian parfumier D'Ootto launched its new 'Romantic Collection' of extrait de parfums inspired by 19th-century novels. The tender intrigue of Pride and Prejudice is evoked by cashmere and white musk, while Emma Woodhouse's 'elegance and intelligence' are summoned with nutmeg, violet leaf and Sicilian mandarin. Unobjectionable choices, to my untrained nose anyway, though I can imagine some dissent from the claim that Austen's artistry 'finds its most poetic expression' in the medium of eau de toilette. The event was more Instagram brunch than Georgian tea party. Soft electronic music played as lifestyle journalists milled around in exchange for a free poached egg. Bare surfaces were piled with antique hardbacks, pink flowers and perfume boxes wrapped in branded silk scarves. Two company founders, wafting about in pristine outfits, told us they had been inspired by Austen's 'strength' and 'bravery'… when they studied her in school. But this latest collection only cashes in on a known truth: reading is a status symbol now. The brand Minor Canon ignited an online firestorm by selling baseball caps bearing the names of women writers like 'Sheila Heti', 'Rachel Cusk' and 'Joyce Carol Oates'. Dua Lipa has a book club. Italian fashion darling Miu Miu hosted a literary club during Milan Design Week, with panellists discussing topics like 'The Power of Girlhood'. Zadie Smith, meanwhile, can be found posing in a leather suit jacket in Bottega Veneta's latest ad campaign, and Dior's upcoming autumn winter collection takes inspiration – always 'inspiration' – from Virginia Woolf's Orlando. The cool girls read now, and by a marketer's logic, that means that you can use books to sell things to girls who want to be cool. As far as cultural power goes, though, Jane is not like other girls. Joan Didion might be the avatar du jour of impending Substackers, but she doesn't have a bobble-head Funko Pop doll made in her honour. Charlotte and Emily Brontë (alas, poor Anne) also got fragrances from D'Otto, but Greta Gerwig's Barbie did not show 'depression Barbie' bingeing the 1995 BBC adaptation of their novels. And what is smash hit Bridgerton, if not Jane Austen fan fiction? Many female writers are products. Austen alone is an industry. Her books have sold over 200 million copies; Colin Firth's Mr Darcy shirt sold for £25,000 at auction. And this year, with the 250th anniversary of her birth scheduled for December, Austen-mania is running especially wild. This week the 'Brick Fanatics' forum was set alight by rumours, then confirmation, of an Austen LEGO set. Yesterday, Ruth Jones and Richard E Grant were named for the cast of The Other Bennet Sister. 2025 also sees French romcom Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a BBC drama Miss Austen, and a West End play, Austentatious. Now more than ever, we are witnessing the Jane Austen-ification of everything. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe With which, sadly, there also comes an everything-ification of Jane Austen. She is certainly many things to many people. Her characters have joined Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes in the line-up of 'Britain as theme park for Americans'. Interpretations of her as a feminist icon can be equally shallow; the D'Otto founders lauded her, basically, as a girlboss. Descriptions of an ''activist' whose 'rule breaking' helped a 'silent revolution' would have been ripe stuff for Austen's satirical pen. Austen did not write to inspire a revolution, silent or scented. Gimmicks that simplify her miss the whole point: she wrote to cast light on complication. Her sweetest, swooniest scenes exist in works that challenge your ideas of love. Her English twee sits beside fierce and precise observations about class dynamics. Her so-called Strong Female Characters flounder, at times shrewd but at times oblivious, hurting people and getting things wrong. I first encountered Austen, like many, in the classroom, and my adolescent annotations – 'sucks to be Charlotte' – have followed me through every rereading. I opened those pages wanting to pass a test, but I closed them with a better sense of how to move through the world. Whatever you seek in Austen – romance, family, escapism – she'll always give you more than you asked for. That's why it's hard to be too upset by her ubiquity. Gimmicks bring readers, and anyone who reads her will feel her. And however much we try to cheapen her, she will always enrich us. The Romantic Collection is only available at Harrods, but the six novels can be found in any bookshop. If a new perfume is of dubious value, they are not. So when we see the next Austen innovation – whether it be a LizzieGPT girlfriend simulator or a Bonnet Girl Summer – we should feel as Anne Elliot feels on reading Captain Wentworth's letter in Persuasion: 'half agony, half hope'. [See also: How 4chan became the home of the elite reader] Related

Daily Mirror

an hour ago

• Daily Mirror

Mum has lunch with family in Italy - costs less than Alton Towers

Gill Martini-Pullen had searched high and low for a fun day out to treat her two kids without breaking the bank - and what she found was incredible A mum went for an international lunchtime trip that was cheaper than a day out to Alton Towers. Gill Martini-Pullen, 49, looked for an affordable yet exciting day out for her two children but found theme park tickets like those for Alton Towers, priced at £68, too steep. The Kent-based business support assistant grew tired of the usual local options and stumbled upon the idea of a one-day foreign trip. To her surprise, she managed to take her kids, aged 11 and 15, off to Bergamo, Italy, for a total cost of just £212 – and they were back home in the UK and tucked up in bed by night-time. ‌ "The thought of being able to go to another country for the day was so exciting," Gill said to Luxury Travel Daily. "A day trip to London or a theme park is very expensive, especially when you factor in travel costs, food and drink. I wanted to treat them to something fun and be back home for their bedtimes." ‌ The thrifty mum managed to get bargain flights with Ryanair for a mere £80 and parked at a nearby Premier Inn for only £12 to avoid hefty airport fees. They embarked on their Italian trip at 7.25am, after a modest £4 shuttle ride to the airport. She said: "We spent the day wandering around the pretty streets of Bergamo, stopping at a lovely restaurant for lunch. "We looked in lots of cute shops, then walked most of the way back down to the lower town before catching the bus back to the airport. With time to spare, we crossed the road to the huge shopping centre for a little look." For their midday meal, they tucked into pizza and gnocchi, with Gill treating herself to an Aperol Spritz, all for £46, followed by cake and gelato for £10. They then spent £13 on traditional Italian pesto and pasta to whip up a dinner back home the following evening and grabbed a quick bite at McDonald's in the airport for £11. Their 9pm flight was delayed, but they didn't let it dampen their spirits, and despite the hold-up, the children were tucked up in bed by 1am instead of the planned 11.30pm. Gill recommends considering a midweek trip to find the best bargains. She also suggests having a look at sites like Skyscanner. ‌ A trip to Alton Towers can cost £204 for three 'walk up price' theme park tickets, according to their website - although it is far cheaper if done online. But the family would also have had to pay to travel back and forth, as well as get food, drink and petrol. Gill added: "Doing extreme day trips is such a good way to get tasters of other countries. I'm looking at going to Paris next or to the Bucharest Thermal Spa with my girls. "The kids loved being able to say they went to Italy for lunch rather than the usual theme park. And they can't wait to do more. "Their feet were hurting after 25,000 steps, but we had a great time."

North Wales Live

2 hours ago

• North Wales Live

Turkey travel warning issued as Foreign Office updates advice - What you need to know

The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) has recently updated its travel advice for Turkey, a popular Mediterranean destination for UK holidaymakers that welcomed over four million Brits in 2024. The FCDO, which provides essential information to British tourists, has issued an alert for those planning to visit Turkey. The update, made on Friday, June 20, states: "If you are a British national wanting to cross the land border from Iran into Turkey, you will need to request facilitation from the British Embassy in Ankara by contacting the FCDO before travelling to the border, indicating whether you are contacting from Iran or from the UK on behalf of a relative. "You will need to provide personal details (name, date of birth, details of travel document used to enter Turkey). This is required by the Turkish authorities. "The usual entry requirements will apply, including that British nationals can enter without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. If you intend to leave Iran overland, you do so at your own risk. "In Iran, holding a British passport or having perceived connections to the UK can be reason enough for the Iranian authorities to detain you", reports the Express. It comes as a result of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, with Iran issuing a warning to the UK, France and the US if the countries get involved. The US has now attacked nuclear sites in Iran. The Foreign Office also advises against all travel to some parts of Turkey. It states that Brits should not travel within 10km of the border with Syria "due to fighting and an heightened risk of terrorism". It added: "In Hakkari province [south east Turkey], you must get permission from the local Governor's Office to visit areas near the border with Iraq and Iran. If visiting with a travel agent or tour group, confirm with them whether you need an individual permit. Keep up to date with local media and follow the advice of the local authorities." Mount Ararat, which is a special military zone in Agri Province, requires permission from the Dogubayazit Government office and a fee being paid. Brits travelling with a travel agent or tour group are urged to confirm with them whether an individual permit is required. It is vital that "extra care" is taken if travelling to the area, as well as remaining updated by the local media and following the advice from local authorities.