Hello,
I just downloaded the Lonely Planet England ebook (thanks for the tip Mardee). They seem to be really excited about Castle Howard and recommend it in the "Our Picks" section at the beginning of the book, the introductions to "Beyond York" section and then more detail in the "Beyond York" section. From some forum comments and probably some other research I've done, I decided Castle Howard was not something I needed to see. I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing.
We enjoyed it. The castle is beautiful, its historic and the gardens were lovely. It does depend on what interests you, personally. Some people are just not interested in castles and palaces and that's ok. There are a lot of abbeys in the area that we thought were interesting, lovely on a sunny day. We also drove around the Moors which I highly recommend.
We enjoyed our visit to Castle Howard because I was an Art Major and we liked to see antiques in home settings. We drove ourselves and were amazed at the size of the Estate. Don't miss the seaside villages in York. We enjoyed our stay in York where we walked the Wall and visited York Minster with it's spectacular Rose window. We were staying by the Railroad Museum which is interesting. Sometimes the best things are those that are not planned. Don't miss Hadrian's Wall!
