Yesterday we went to Castle Howard--their Christmas market started this weekend!
We bought some lovely white chocolate & lemon shortbread and locally made raspberry & sloe gin
In the rose garden
The carriage house
The fall leaves are fantastic
I love intricate garden gates
Castle Howard
It's so fun to see these stately homes all done up for Christmas!
Even the statues are decked out with garlands
The Christmas tree in the great hall is 17 feet tall and the guide said it took 6 people to bring it in!
Richard's grandfather collected bronzes, and he had a chariot just like this one
Their exhibition on the First & Second World Wars was good--I liked the propaganda posters and this comic from a WWII-era issue of Punch
We both had what was described on the menu as a "hot turkey roll with stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy"--it tasted great, but looks terrible here! It was swimming in gravy, so you had to eat it open-faced with a knife and fork. After lunch, we had tea & cake--I had my first mince pie of the season and Richard had a slice of Christmas cake.
We look so happy, all full of gravy, lol!
We took a walk around the grounds--it was chilly, but I love the fall leaves!
The Temple of the Four Winds
The view is just amazing--I can see why they built a folly on this side of the estate!
It started getting dark around 3, so we made our way back to the shops in the carriage house
The walled gardens are out of season at the moment, but they still had a vegetable patch going and a few things were still in bloom.
We'll definitely come back in the summer when it's in full swing!
