Hello there, welcome back.

This week you find us heading towards Northumbria to explore a little. Before we get there though there’s something big in the way. Yorkshire.

As I’ve picked the next stop without supervision, we’re off to see another castle and without knowing it a couple of film locations.

Castle Howard and the Howardian Hills

We turn off the A1 and cruise around York taking ever smaller roads out toward Castle Howard. The Sat Nav seems determined to take us a very long way around to the campsite behind the house. Credit where it’s due though, we avoid the low arch of the gatehouse which I think would have clipped Beatrix’s ears if we’d tried to get under.

We’re staying on the estate campsite for 5 days. This covers a Sally work day and will give us plenty of time to explore. It’s grey as we arrive but we get some fresh air with a walk along the duck pond behind the house. We catch a glimpse of the house but it’s really hidden by the hills. Thankfully the weather over the next few days looks sunny, so we’ll doubtless get a good day to see everything.

The main entry to the castle is about half an hour walk from the campsite. The visitor entrance is through the original stables and there’s the obligatory cafe, gift shop and a lovely farm shop with produce from the estate.

We don’t really need much but the sunny weather tempts us into a barbecue. We pick two different mouth-watering flavours of marinaded chicken skewers to have with new potatoes and fresh asparagus. It’s our first outdoor cook for ages and it tastes fantastic.

Checking the receipt though and we discover the prices were a bit OTT. The potatoes were good but perhaps not worth £12/kg. Still, I guess these old estates must cost a few pennies to keep up.

Out and about

There’s a lovely walk right around the outside of the estate. Well, outside the bit you have to pay to go in anyway. After an hour of walking, the hills finally open up and we get our first glimpse of the whole of the house. It’s a pretty impressive pile of bricks.

It’s basically a rectangular walk around that we weren’t necessarily planning to do as we left Beatrix. Reaching the last side, we discover we need to cross into a field of cows and there’s a sign on the gate that says, “Beware, Bull in field”.

Now I should add that we don’t have a terribly good record of walking through fields of cows. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that we try to avoid doing it. In the past we’ve been involved in a bovine ‘stand-off’ and on another occasion we’ve actually been chased out of a field by these creatures. The addition of the bull didn’t do much for our confidence.

Warily stalking into the field, we scan for the herd. About halfway across, we spy them on the other side of a hill. We can sense them watching us. Unspoken, our pace increases. This somewhat surprises Merlin, who didn’t read the sign on the way in and ends up being dragged across the field by her ears.

We make it safely through.

On the way back through the village of Coneysthorpe, we wander into a film set. Although there’s dozens of people around it seems pretty chilled compared to the last filming event we came across, for Bridgerton in Bath, so we check it out.

The ‘chief chappie in charge’ wanders over and rather than shoeing us off, stops for a chat. Confirming it’s a cool, indie production he says there’s no special effects, explosions or super hero’s and as a result it’s real pleasure to work on. We watch proceedings for a while and chat to several members of the crew who come over to meet Merlin. At one point I think Merlin might get a walk on role but sadly not. Still, the film is an adaption of Blueberry Inn, so we’ll look out for it when it’s released.

It turns out Castle Howard has appeared in a quite a few films. Brideshead Revisited, scenes from Bridgerton as well as Garfield 2 have been filmed here.

So for our last day here, we decide to take a tour of the house. It’s pretty impressive and well worth a look around. Merlin wasn’t allowed in the house, but she did have a good sniff around the gardens.

Durham

Is our next stop.

However, leaving Castle Howard is more tricky than we think. We take the A170 out toward Thirsk which is a road with a little surprise. Giving us just enough warning to panic but not enough to pull over or turn around, the signs announce a dangerous 25% descent ahead.

That’s pretty steep.

Certainly for us.

The Sat Nav is firmly back in the dog house.

We always find it’s a little difficult travelling in the UK at this time of year. The period of May bank holidays and half terms means that campsites are both full and expensive. This year’s unseasonable good weather seems to have compounded things and we’re finding it a little difficult to find a home for the weekend.

In the end, we get a bit lucky when speaking with a super helpful warden at the Durham Caravan and Motorhome Club site who goes the extra mile to squeeze us in.

The bank holiday weekend is indeed super busy and the site’s completely full on Friday and Saturday night. Sadly the sunshine deserts us, replaced with 50mph winds which is always a fun experience in the motorhome. We manage to fit in a Parkrun on Saturday morning, gaining a ‘D’ for our collection, and get a few chores sorted.

Monday is much brighter and so we take the super scooter into the city and check it out. Taking a walk up from the river to the cathedral is beautiful. Towards the top of the hill, we arrive at the square of university libraries, cathedral and castle. The castle is closed but the cathedral is open and we’re happily surprised to find there’s no charge to go in.

Definitely impressive, we take in the nearly 1000 years of history. There are the graves of The Venerable Bede and St. Cuthbert, whose trail we’ll be following next month. We’re surprised to find the cloisters were filming locations for Harry Potter and The Avengers movies continuing our film location theme.

The views from the tower are supposedly amazing and it’s only a small charge to walk up. Sadly though the high winds mean that the tower is closed on the day we are there so that’ll have to be something for next time.

As we leave, there’s a huge queue outside and it’s now one out – one in. Just as well we got in early.

On Tuesday, the winds have blown themselves out and our time in Durham is done. We pack up and hit the road toward our next destination and a tale for next time.

We hope you enjoyed catching up with us. Much love. Sally, Toby and Merlin.