It was a cold start to the morning today, in fact it has been a cold week so far, with overnight frosts and bright, sunny but cold days. 

We had a lovely sunrise to start the day off whilst I was out with Meg and Gracie earlier in the morning. After breakfast, the weather forecast looked pretty good for the rest of the day, so we decided to pack the car and head off for another walk around the ‘South Lake’ at Castle Howard.

It was a steady fifty minute journey from home today, traffic slowed a little at the usual black spots on the A64 but we arrived safely and on time. 

After a quick take away coffee from the Courtyard café we made our way across the courtyard to the booking office, after exchanging pleasantries with the staff we continued under the arch and onto the estate grounds.

It was nice to see the Snowdrops in full bloom as we made our way through the trees to the Western aspect of the house, huge patches of them shimmering in the morning breeze, glistening as the tiny white florets catch the mid-morning sunlight.

As we walked past the Southern facade of the house, two contract staff were busily ‘power washing’ the stone steps leading into the Central Hall of the house.  We continued our walk along the gravelled path but today, instead of heading up the slope to ‘Ray Wood’, we headed over to the ‘South Lake’ and walked along the South side of the lake. There was lots of activity on the lake today, the resident mute swans were steadily feeding and guarding the lake, a large flock of geese was causing general mischief and mayhem amongst themselves, and a small group of Tufted Ducks were busily minding their own business, ducking and diving and feeding on the food stuff below the water surface. There was a cold gentle breeze blowing across the surface of the lake which kept the temperature down a little, but in the sunshine it was still quite pleasant. On reaching the far corner of the lake we stopped for a few minutes to admire the view looking back towards the house. We continued up the gentle slope to reach the grassy terrace and the ‘Temple of Four Winds’ taking care not to stand on the emerging daffodils. The views from the Temple were breath-taking, be it looking across the grassed fields to ‘the New Bridge’ or across to the ‘Family Mausoleum’ over in the distance. We walked around the Temple and again stopped on the far side to watch a pair of Buzzards circling high above us. The views looking across the open fields of the Howardian Hills were amazing, understandably it is a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Some 6,000 acres of Castle Howards estate are set aside to agriculture where they can produce a variety of crops including, barley, wheat, potatoes and oil seed rape. There is also a large beef herd of Angus Cattle which supply the farm shop. 

After leaving the Temple, we headed away from the ‘Southern Terrace’ and into ‘Ray Wood’ where we followed the main grassy footpath through the trees back towards the house. Large swathes of Snowdrops were in full flower along either side of the track which added some colour to the otherwise barren trees and shrubs. On reaching the edge of the woods we walked through the wooden gate and down the grassy bank to the house. Hundreds of daffodils were poking through the grass either side of the path which is always a spectacle when they flower in several weeks’ time. After leaving the house we headed back into the courtyard where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the Courtyard restaurant before the journey home.