I always enjoy a visit to Castle Howard and today was no exception. We had our friends Pedro & Mavis staying with us this week so we all (less M & G) headed over to have a look around the state rooms and see ‘Christmas at Castle Howard’.

This year’s theme was ‘Angels on High’ and as such all the state rooms had been decorated with a variety of classic and contemporary themes as well as the usual huge Christmas tree in the Great Hall.

We have been coming to Castle Howard for many years now and always look forward to seeing the house and grounds decorated for Christmas. It seems to get better year on year. Each room looked warm and festive and decorated in keeping with that room. 

The Antique Passage had been cleverly lit this year and looked quite atmospheric looking along its length and highlighting the many statues and busts along its length. All the rooms looked homely with roaring fires burning in the fireplaces, subtle lighting and decorated in keeping with the period. In one of the upstairs rooms is a lovely Gingerbread model of the house measuring some 8ft by 11ft. The model is quite detailed and realistic and for an added touch has a miniature train running around it. It must have taken quite a team to bake and assemble it.

In the Long Gallery was the Pavilion Strings quartet, playing a selection of classical music which sounded wonderful, the acoustics reverberated along the full length of the Gallery and attracted a large audience of appreciated listeners.

From the Long Gallery we made our way down the steps into the Chapel. This is one of my many favourite places in the house, especially since the lighting was enhanced several years ago. The nativity scene set out nicely on the front of the alter steps. There was a Christmas tree on the left with some homemade decorations made by local school children with some lovely hand written messages on. After a look around the visitors shop we headed into the restaurant for a cup of tea and bite to eat. 

A lovely morning looking round a stunning house, I think our guests were well impressed.