Castle Howard, Boathouse Cafe — Restaurant in Great Britain

This was the only cafe we visited on our recent trip to Castle Howard. If the weather is nice, as it was for us, sitting pn the deck looking over the lake is a pleasure. If you are not so lucky with the weather then you may find that the indoor seating area is full due to there being only a limited number of tables. The coffee we had was great and the slice of giant sausage roll delicious. The cakes we had were very good,we partucularly liked the chocolate brownie. Apparently all the items we had are made on the estate and did have a homemade quality. Something that other houses run by large charities could well learn a lesson from. NT did you get that! The cafe has a large play area nearby but not to close to cause disturbance of you want to enjoy the peaceful lake. The ducks from the lake can be a bit pushy for being fed and aren’t frightened of people. Be warned if you have a feather phobia. The only niggle I had is a strange one, and that is that the door to the cafe is quite narrow. Steering a path through it with a laden tray is slightly awkward. I almost forgot to mention that we thought that the cost of our lunch was very...

Our recent visit was only to the grounds and not the house. Just from the outside, I would say the house is well worth a visit. It's so spectacular. The grounds themselves are wonderful and full of amazing and interesting things to see. Having 3 kids, we couldn't go without visiting the play area. The play area is almost as impressive as the house itself! There's so much to do for kids of all ages, and abilities. There's a few items that are great for inclusive play. The boathouse produces some great hot drinks, perfect for those cold days, and the views over the lake are beautiful! Kids can toast their on marshmallows over the fire pits. They're only a pound each and our kids loved them. Overall, I'd say Castle Howard is a great day out for all the family (including the dog!). I will add, during the pandemic, we felt the staff at Castle Howard were impeccable! Not once did we feel unsafe and there was an abundance of hand sanitiser around all public areas. Easy to get to from the A64, I would recommend Castle Howard...

We had a wonderful visit to Castle Howard, the only thing spoiling it being very heavy rain towards the end and nowhere to shelter. Our grandchildren loved the amazing playparks linked by a rope bridge and we enjoyed the beautiful grounds with a beautiful array of spectacular flowers. We enjoyed lunch at a table overlooking the lake which had lots of swans, geese and ducks with ducklings delighting the children. There were quite a few mobile food vans and a cafe and pizza place which met the need for lunch and also plenty of picnic tables. Castle Howard was so much more than we expected and if we lived in England we'd definitely get membership. As it is we got it for our son, daughter in law and children. Very highly...