I had an early start today; I was on the Barff with Meg & Gracie for around 6.00am. It was a lovely morning, bright and sunny with an air temperature of just 2C, we have been waking up to a fair few frost of late but not this morning.

It has been a dry month so far, the ground is becoming well baked and arid dry, even small cracks are appearing as the soil continues to dry out with all this dry weather.  

I had pre booked a ticket for this morning to visit Castle Howard, so after breakfast, I packed the car with Meg and Gracie and set off for a walk around the grounds. It is just a steady 50-minute drive from home and we arrived in the car park at around 10.15am. I took the dogs for a quick stroll through the woods around the back of the cricket circle before we made our way to the main courtyard and booking office.

The booking office is always an adventure with Meg & Gracie as they are both inquisitive dogs, fortunately I must have timed my entrance well as the booking office was quiet with no distractions, much to the disappointment of Meg & Gracie.  On leaving the booking office we headed over to the walled garden to have a look around and admire all the planting. Today was a hive of activity with gardeners and volunteers, all busily tidying up and planting up the borders, for some summer colour in a few months’ time.

On leaving the walled garden we walked part way through the ‘Lime walk’ towards the house. The house has been closed since last year but re opens on the 17^th May in line with the current governmental guidelines. Following the gravelled path, we continued along the ‘Southern Terrace’ towards the ‘Time Capsule’ pausing for a few moments to admire the view of the house bathed in bright morning sunshine.

After a couple of photographs, we continued our walk up the gentle slope to the gate and entrance to Ray Wood’.  Clumps of wild yellow primroses provided lots of colour on the woodland floor whilst some late flowering Azaleas and Magnolia bushes provided plenty of colour at eye level. There are numerous small footpaths within the woodland which are easy to follow without getting lost, we passed the small ‘Aztec Pyramid’ bathed in sunshine. This monument was completely restored with local stone back in 2016. From the pyramid we followed the trail which took us through the wood and brought us out near to ‘The Temple of Four Winds’ I always take a breather here to look at the Temple and the views across the fields to the Howardian Hills in the distance. Looking over in a South Easterly direction the Mausoleum and ‘New River Bridge’ come into view and make an equally impressive view. We made our way down to the waters edge and watched several Canada Geese as they swam gracefully in the small lake adjacent to the ‘South Lake’, passing the statue of the ‘Shepherd Boy’ on the right, we made our way up the embankment to the eastern edge of the South lake. The views from here looking towards the house are lovely, reflections of the house were shimmering on the surface of the water, Tufted Ducks and Mallards were swimming gracefully across the lake, occasionally diving to graize on the weed below the surface of the water. Lots of visitors were sat on the three wooden benches enjoying a picnic and views.

We continued our walk along the southern edges of the lake, admiring the late flowering daffodils along the waters edge. After a few minutes we passed the empty ‘Atlas Fountain’ which was currently undergoing some winter maintenance work and spring clean. We followed the path to the statue of ‘Apollo’ and then turned right and walked between the terrace of Lime trees back to the house. From the house we walked alongside the walled garden back to the Stable Courtyard and enjoyed a very pleasant coffee from the takeaway coffee shop before heading back to the car and the journey home.