A Very Happy New Year to you.

After a hectic Christmas week, it was nice to get out of the house for a few hours today, so after an early morning dog walk, we headed along the A64 to have another walk around Castle Howard.

Needless to say, I think everybody else was of the same opinion as us. The volume of traffic at the ‘Hopgrove roundabout’ on the outskirts of York was horrendous with a tailback as far back to the Market Weighton turnoff, all in all it took me an additional forty-five minutes traveling time before we reached the stately home.

The house was still open due to it being the last day of the ‘Christmas in Narnia’ event with visitors queuing the full length of the courtyard. We stopped for a coffee and biscuit in the courtyard café before entering the grounds, Meg and Gracie were on good form, they always enjoy a small treat from the café too.

It was quite a pleasant morning, mild 13C all be it dull, cloudy and overcast. After our coffee we headed through the booking office towards the main house, fortunately the majority of visitors diverted off to the house, but we continued along the southern terrace towards the time capsule, stopping for a moment to admire the view and watch all the Canada Geese grazing on the grass at the side of the South Lake.

We continued up the grassy slope to the wooded gate and into ‘Ray Wood’. The grass was a trifle slippery as was the path through the woodland, which was to be expected for this time of year, I am pleased I had my winter boots on otherwise my trouser legs would have been blathered up in mud, apparently, I am a messy walker.

All the Rhododendron and Azealia bushes were quite dormant and bare, though looking closely on the ground were signs that Spring is just around the corner with patches of green leaved Snowdrops poking through the fallen autumnal leaves. We continued our walk leaving the wood adjacent to ‘the Temple of Four Winds’.  I always stop here and admire the view looking across the Howardian hills, the fields are still quite barren at the moment, just waiting for the warmer weather when they will come to life. I could hear a pair of Buzzards calling to each other over towards the Mausoleum. After leaving the Temple we headed down to the water’s edge and followed the lake back towards the house, stopping at the ‘Atlas Fountain’ which had been drained for the winter period. The view from the fountain looking north towards the house always catches my eye and I must have hundreds of photographs of the same view taken at different times of the year.

From the house it is just a steady five-minute walk back to the courtyard where we were able to purchase a sandwich and coffee from the takeaway café, which we sat and ate in the courtyard whilst watching the continuous stream of visitors heading towards the house. 

It was nice to be out in the fresh air today.