Not that I go to these places for the ‘home’ part. What is appealing is lovely gardens, excellent cafes and tempting gift shops. Castle Howard has three cafes and we sampled them all. This was on Thursday.

I spent extra time in the main cafe at the house writing in this blog, then followed Stephen into the house, where I soon ran into him. That was because he started at the wrong end. The most interesting thing for us and most visitors is that this was where both versions of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ were shot and there was a display in one of the rooms. We also went into the chapel that is part of the house and where Charles Ryder nearly died of class envy.

It was a sunny day and a pleasant temperature and we enjoyed time out in the grounds enjoying the views. Stephen went on a bit longer walk at the end, but I was too tired.

The house is apart an hour bus ride from York which meant we got to see more of the surrounding countryside. It is much dryer here than where we are staying at Cragg Vale, with fields of stubble after harvest. The first photos are from the entry part to the grounds, which have a cafe, a takeaway coffee shop, a produce store and a gift shop.

This contraption allowed the person to be taken down the steps in his,own wheelchair.