It was a lovely sunny morning as we arrived at Castle Howard for a morning walk around the estate and woodland. There was a slight breeze 12C and a beautiful blue sky, the ground was still quite wet from the overnight rain. 

The courtyard was bathed in early morning sunshine and was relatively quiet for 10.00am. We popped into the takeaway coffee shop for a drink and piece of cake before we headed through the arch and into the cobbled courtyard. A display of pumpkins in the corner caught my attention as we passed by the farm shop and reminded me that Halloween was just a couple of weeks away.

After exchanging pleasantries with the staff in the ticket office we left the courtyard and headed over to the walled garden. It is always a pleasant walk through the garden, originally laid out as a kitchen garden during the 18th century, today part of the garden is still given over to vegetables and cut flowers but the remainder of the area has been transformed into a garden of roses, dedicated to the memory of Lady Cecilia Howard. The borders are always a picture, no matter what time of year you visit though today was full of Autumn colours. On leaving the garden we headed along the tree lined terrace towards the house, stopping to admire some of the fir cones.

The house looked absolutely beautiful, bathed in the morning sunlight, we stopped for a few moments to photograph Meg & Gracie in front of the house before continuing our walk along the ‘south terrace’, passing the ‘time capsule’ and heading up to ‘Ray Woods’. The trees were beginning to take on their winter colours. Some forestry work looked to have been carried out recently. As is common at this time of year there was lots of fungi emerging from under the fallen leaves, Meg and Gracie thought they were in heaven as they both snow ploughed under the leaves. We followed the trail till we emerged from the woods adjacent to ‘the Temple of Four Winds’. The views in every direction from the Temple were amazing. A Buzzard was busily circling high above a copse of trees near to the mausoleum, the Angus cattle were contently grazing in the fields adjacent to the woods. Several walkers could be seen walking over towards ‘the New Bridge’. Looking back towards the house the tree lined terrace was a picture, many of the trees were changing into their Autumnal colours, especially the Maples and Acers, Fly Agaric fungi were sprouting up under many of the trees, providing splashes of colour amongst the fallen autumn leaves. We sat for several minutes to admire the view looking over the ‘South Lake’, A pair of swans glided gracefully over the water, a flock of over twenty geese squabbled amongst themselves as they flitted from one area of the lake to another area. At least two pair of Tufted ducks were feeding on the quieter part of the lake, bobbing and diving under the water in search of food. We continued our walk heading back towards the house, continually stopping to admire the view and take photographs.

As we walked past the house several pairs of House Martins were still flitting around amongst the nooks and crannies just below the roof line of the house.

We continued our walk, past the ‘Walled Garden’ and under the stone arch back into the courtyard and made our way for brunch at the courtyard restaurant, as the weather was still warm and sunny we sat outside and enjoyed a very pleasant meal with Meg & Gracie, who sat as good as gold, though I think they were grateful for a rest and some shade from the sunlight.