Malton - Castle Howard

Before continuing along the B1257 to Malton (10mi/16km southeast of Gilling Castle) a signed detour leads from Slingsby to Castle Howard, a magnificent Palladian mansion built for the third Earl of Carlisle by John Vanbrugh. Both a dramatist and an architect, it was Vanbrugh's first major work, based on plans drawn by Wren. The house is owned by George Howard. Its garden front is particularly fine. The elegant rooms contain paintings, carving by Grinling Gibbons, period furniture and costumes, and valuable vases and statues. The grounds are on a scale to match the house with an impressive family mausoleum, an obelisk, a pyramid and the Temple of the Four Winds (1724-1726) by Vanbrugh. "Brideshead Revisited", a popular television series based on Evelyn Waugh's book, was filmed at Castle Howard.

Many of the early rooms were redone in William Morris wallpaper when it was the rage in the latter part of the 19th C.

The garden features beautiful daffodils during the spring, one of the largest collections of old roses in England, a lake, a fountain, strutting peacocks and several garden temples.