8. A circular walk from Welburn Village to Castle Howard

Scenes around the Howardian Hills, North Yorkshire

 Malton and Howardian Hills Index

See also The Yorkshire Arboretum on the Castle Howard Estate

Welburn is a very quiet sleepy village but has a fine Victorian Parish Church built of lovely honey-coloured limestone. The Barley Basket is a friendly cafe and good starting point for a walk northwards walking through the Castle Howard estate and the Crown and Cushion pub serves the village and walkers too.

From Welburn Village you can walk almost due north into the Castle Howard Estate and continue on permissive paths.

The Pyramid (right in picture) is on your left just before you cross over the footpath of the Centenary Way.

All part of walking through the Castle Howard estate on permitted paths.

Further on the Mausoleum of Castle Howard is on your right before you cross over the New River Bridge.

The Temple of the Four Winds from the New River Bridge in the Castle Howard estate.

The Cascade at the southern end of the South Lake and the lake north of the New River Bridge.

Castle Howard House in the distance.

The Temple of the Four Winds at Castle Howard.

Looking back down to the New River Bridge.

The front facade of the Temple of the Four Winds, designed by Hawksmoor 1724-1726.

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Heading north-west along by the estate wall of the grounds of Castle Howard.

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From the woods of Horse Close Rush you swing round to reach Bog Hall ...

... and then head south for Low Gaterley viewing the Mausoleum up on your right ...

... and even a distant glimpse of the Temple of the Four Winds as you go west on the Centenary Way. You then go south a little and then head south-east for the 'Four Faces' - shown below. The carved stone sculptures are shown below.

Another interesting 'monument' in the Castle Howard Estate called the Four Faces, before making the way back through Todd Wood and back across the fields back to Welburn Village.

Some nice old oak trees in the woods near Welburn.

Welburn Church of St John - a fine building built in the style of ~1300 from 1859-1865 by Mallinson & Healey.

The odd bits of architecture you see on driving through the estate of Castle Howard heading north on the B road for Slingsby. Archways and the Obelisk.

The Great Lake in the Castle Howard estate.

The 'Courtyard' Cafe and shops at Castle Howard - in very refine architectural surroundings!

More on the grounds, buildings and interior of Castle Howard (a grade 1 listed building)

Castle Howard was built on a changed site of the old medieval Henderskelfe Castle.

The building is the product of the architects Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor, though who did what is disputed.

The south facade of Castle Howard

Statues-sculptures in the gardens south of the main house of Castle Howard.

The 'rear' entrance to the main central building of Castle Howard.

The re-created Great Hall from 1961, after a 1940 disastrous fire in Castle Howard

The painted decorated dome above the Great Hall of Castle Howard.

One of the 'drawing' rooms of Castle Howard.

Christmas decorations in the Long Gallery at Castle Howard.

The male voice choir men of the Dalesmen singers in the Long Gallery, singing in Castle Howard, Christmas 2018

Sculpture of ? in Castle Howard.

Sculptures - busts of ? and ? in Castle Howard.

stained glass window in Castle Howard

The lake in the grounds of Castle Howard.

Ducks and geese on the Great Lake of Castle Howard.

The Atlas Fountain, winter at Castle Howard.

Statues-sculptures in the south gardens of Castle Howard.

The impressive exterior of the stable block of Castle Howard.

More on Castle Howard (adapted from Wikipedia)

Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, 15 miles (24 km) north of York. It is a private residence, and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years. Castle Howard is not a true castle, but this term is also used for English country houses erected on the site of a former military castle.

It is familiar to television and film audiences as the fictional "Brideshead", both in Granada Television's 1981 adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and a two-hour 2008 remake for cinema. Today, it is part of the Treasure Houses of England group of heritage houses.

The history of Castle Howard begins with start of building in 1699 and took over 100 years to complete to a design by Sir John Vanbrugh for the 3rd Earl of Carlisle. The site of Castle Howard was that of the ruined Henderskelfe Castle, which had come into the Howard family in 1566 through the marriage of Thomas, 4th Duke of Norfolk to Elizabeth Leyburne, widow of Thomas, 4th Baron Dacre. For the Duke of Norfolk's son Lord William Howard had married his step-sister Elizabeth Dacre, the daughter of the 4th Baron Dacre who brought with her the sizable estates of Henderskelfe and Naworth Castle as well.

The house is surrounded by a large estate which, at the time of the 7th Earl of Carlisle, covered over 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) and included the villages of Welburn, Bulmer, Slingsby, Terrington and Coneysthorpe. The Castle Howard estate was served by its own railway station, Castle Howard, from 1845 to the 1950s.

After the death of the 9th Earl in 1911, Castle Howard was inherited by his younger son Geoffrey, with later earls having Naworth Castle as their northern country house. In 1952, the house was opened to the public by the then owner, George Howard, Baron Howard of Henderskelfe. It is owned by Castle Howard Estate Ltd and run by Nicholas and Victoria Howard.

The 3rd Earl of Carlisle first spoke to William Talman, a leading architect, but commissioned Vanbrugh, a fellow member of the Kit-Cat Club, to design the building. Castle Howard was that gentleman-dilettante's first foray into architecture, but he was assisted by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Vanbrugh's design evolved into a Baroque structure with two symmetrical wings projecting to either side of a north-south axis. The crowning central dome was added to the design at a late stage, after building had begun. Construction began at the east end, with the East Wing constructed from 1701–03, the east end of the Garden Front from 1701–06, the Central Block (including dome) from 1703–06, and the west end of the Garden Front from 1707–09. All are exuberantly decorated in Baroque style, with coronets, cherubs, urns and cyphers, with Roman Doric pilasters on the north front and Corinthian on the South. Many interiors were decorated by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini.

The Earl then turned his energies to the surrounding garden and grounds. Although the complete design is shown in the third volume of Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus, published in 1725, the West Wing was not started when Vanbrugh died in 1726, despite his remonstration with the Earl. The house remained incomplete on the death of the 3rd Earl in 1738, but construction finally started at the direction of the 4th Earl. However, Vanbrugh's design was not completed: the West Wing was built in a contrasting Palladian style to a design by the 3rd Earl's son-in-law, Sir Thomas Robinson. The new wing remained incomplete, with no first floor or roof, at the death of the 4th Earl in 1758; although a roof had been added, the interior remained undecorated by the death of Robinson in 1777. Rooms were completed stage by stage over the following decades, but the whole was not complete until 1811 under Charles Heathcote Tatham.

A large part of the main house of Castle Howard was destroyed by a fire which broke out on 9 November 1940. The dome, the central hall, the dining room and the state rooms on the east side were entirely destroyed. Antonio Pellegrini's ceiling decoration the Fall of Phaeton was lost when the dome collapsed. Some of the devastated rooms have been restored over the following decades. In 1960–61 the dome was rebuilt and in the following couple of years, Pellegrini's Fall of Phaeton was recreated on the underside of the dome.

Castle Howard has extensive and diverse gardens. There is a large formal garden immediately behind the house. The house is prominently situated on a ridge and this was exploited to create an English landscape park, which opens out from the formal garden and merges with the park. Two major garden buildings are set into this landscape: the Temple of the Four Winds at the end of the garden, and the Mausoleum in the park. There is also a lake on either side of the house. There is woodland garden, Ray Wood, and the walled garden contains decorative rose and flower gardens. Further buildings outside the preserved gardens include Hawksmoor's Pyramid restore in 2015, an Obelisk and several follies and eyecatchers in the form of fortifications which have been restored in recent years. In nearby Pretty Wood there are two more monuments, The Four Faces and a smaller pyramid by Hawksmoor. The grounds of Castle Howard are also used as part of at least two charity running races during the year.

Located on the Estate, but operating separately to the house and gardens and run by an entirely independent charitable trust, is the 127 acres (51 ha) Yorkshire Arboretum.

Castle Howard has been used as anotable film location. In addition to its most famous appearance in film as Brideshead in both the 1981 television serial and 2008 film adaptations of Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, Castle Howard has been used as a backdrop for a number of other cinematic and television settings.

	Castle Howard & Estate Howardian Hills Country, North Yorkshire, Northern England: There is lots of good walking and picnic spots on the public footpaths and allowed walks on and near the Castle Howard estate set in the gently rolling Howardian Hills. The beautiful estate has open fields, woodland and lanes with hedgerows of wild flowers.
	The Courtyard Cafe at Castle Howard is a most pleasant place to sit and have tea, coffee and delicious cakes etc. on a summer day and there are also shops selling local produce e.g. meats from the butcher, baker, confectionary, craft gifts and more besides!
The Castle Howard Garden Centre sells a wide range of plants, pots and statues etc.!

	Welburn Village near Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, England: The village of Welburn is a few miles south of Castle Howard. The Barley Basket is a friendly cafe and good starting point for a walk northwards on a circular walk through the Castle Howard estate.
	The Crown and Cushion pub serves the village and walkers too. Welburn is a very quiet sleepy village but has a fine Victorian Parish Church built of lovely honey-coloured limestone.

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