Castle Howard

The third Earl of Carlisle gave the commission in 1699 to John Vanbrugh, a soldier and comic playwright who had never designed a building; Nicholas Hawksmoor did the technical work and the result was the first great English baroque house, with a domed hall that was the first dome on an English private house. Vanbrugh died before the west wing was built and a later architect completed it in an incompatible Palladian style, so the two halves of the facade do not match. A fire in 1940 destroyed the dome and around twenty rooms; the dome was rebuilt in the 1960s for filming. Hawksmoor's Mausoleum stands in the park, along with a Temple of the Four Winds and a pyramid. The house served as Brideshead in both screen adaptations of Brideshead Revisited.

What you actually see

• The mismatched facade - baroque and Palladian wings that do not agree.
• The Great Hall dome - rebuilt after the 1940 fire, the first on an English house.
• The Mausoleum - Hawksmoor's circular temple standing alone in the park.
• The park follies - Temple of the Four Winds, pyramid and obelisk.

When to go

March to October for house and gardens; the grounds open more widely and the Christmas house decoration from November is heavily booked. Spring bulbs in Ray Wood and the walled garden roses in June are the garden highlights.

Honest expectations

The estate is very large and the walk between house, lake and follies is long. Some rooms remain unrestored shells from the 1940 fire. Tickets are expensive and the house closes for private events and filming.

Nearby

Malton and its food scene lie east; York is about half an hour southwest.