Castle

Last revised: February 04, 2008

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Castle Howard
By
Michael Coatesworth

There's nothing like fresh air for recuperating from an illness, so when my son-in-law asked if I would like to go out for a run in the car, I delightfully accepted. 'Where are we going?' I asked him as he stowed away my wheelchair in the car boot.

He informed me that we were just going for a run in the countryside, unless of course there was somewhere special that I would to go?

After mulling it over for a short while, 'how about “Castle Howard,” as it is one place that I've never been before?' I suggested.

My son-in-law got his map out to find exactly where it was.

I told him that it was approximately 15 miles the north east side of York.

He looked at me with a puzzled expression, and asked how I knew where it was?

'That's easy,' I replied, 'I looked it up before we came out of the house.'

Looking at me, he smiled when he realised that I had already decided where I wanted to go.

The sun was shining high in the sky as we headed for York. It was so hot that my daughter, Lesley, who was sat in the back of the car, requested that we had the sunroof and the car windows fully opened and as I sat back in my seat and relaxed, I enjoyed the wind blowing through my hair.

It took over an hour to reach Castle Howard, and I was impressed by the approach to the magnificent structure that was lined in places with statues. Eventually we drove underneath a well-constructed archway and parked up in the designated area. We entered the cobbled stable courtyard and went into a building and watched “glass blowing” for a while. From there we entered the castle grounds, where it cost £9 each all-inclusive, which meant that we could visit inside the house as well as the grounds. I was pleasantly surprised at the disabled facilities, including the on site transport of a train with a ramp for wheelchairs. We took the train (which was pulled by a farm tractor) to the castle and from there to the lakeside where there was a wonderful view of the whole area, also there was an adventure playground for children. We decided to stay on the train and return to the castle, but before going into the grand building, we had something to eat in the restaurant, which too was wheelchair friendly. I had the roast chicken with baked potatoes and fresh vegetables, and the food was excellent and very tasty.

After the sumptuous meal we entered the castle and were escorted by friendly and courteous staff to the bottom of a long flight of stairs where a wheelchair lift was in operation ferrying disabled visitors to the top of the stairs. Each wheelchair user was accompanied by a member of the castle staff, who ensured that all safety regulations were carried out before setting the lift in motion and walked up the stairs alongside the lift each time. I'm sure that their legs must have been tired.

At the end of the guided tour we were escorted back to the lift and returned safely to the ground floor. We entered the wonderful gardens, and visited the walled “rose” garden, where even I was surprised by some of the exotic blooms, a few of which I had never seen before.

Would I return to Castle Howard? A definite yes, but next time I would need to obtain a three-day pass to see everything at my leisure rather than cram everything into a few hours.

Mike Coatesworth

More pictures of my trip to Castle Howard 2003

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