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Private Guide from York for day trip out to castles?

Having listened to yesterday's advice about York vs. Canterbury, I have put York back on the list for our trip. We will sleep there 3 nights and I was hoping to dedicate one day to hiring a guide to drive us around the countryside. There are so many castles within a 50 mile radius of York, but train/bus to many of them will take up too much of our time. I thought a good guide might save us some time and make the day memorable. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Posted by
25 posts

Hi Valerie,
I think your best bet would be to contact the tourist information centre in York and ask them if they have a list of guides. I am intrigued as to your remark as to "so many castles within a 50 mile radius of York". I really can't think of very many!
Which ones were you thinking of visiting?

Posted by
2622 posts

I have found Castle Howard, Bowes, Barnard and Ruby Castles (these three appear to be about 50 miles away), Nunnington Hall, Bolton Castle, Skipton Castle and Beningbrough Hall and Gardens.

I know there's no way to see them all, but even trying to take train/bus to three of them was expensive and time-consuming and I was just hoping that a guide might make it a fun day.

I will contact the tourism board there...thank you for the idea.

Posted by
1819 posts

Middleham castle is a good one and it's also historically significant. Do also include an abbey---Fountains Abbey is magnificent. Why not just rent a car that day? It's not that hard to drive out of York--the rental site is at the train station.